Submitted
The Art Center Cinema announces the upcoming film, “The Holdovers,” playing at the Cinema for a two-week tenure; starting this Friday, November 24 to Wednesday, December 6, 2023. Tickets for the film can be purchased online or at the box office.
Alexander Payne doesn’t make unlikeable characters lovable, but he has a gift for making them prickly, complex, and relatable. We may not want to see ourselves in the “heroes” of Election, Sideways, or Nebraska—but Payne makes these flawed, tragicomic figures compelling. His favored actor is Paul Giamatti, a schlubby Everyman who conveys frustration, pettiness, and simmering rage better than anyone.
In The Holdovers, Giamatti gives his greatest performance as Paul Hunham, a history teacher at a posh private boys’ school in the early ‘70s. Hunham’s no Mr. Chips: his caustic wit, sneering intellectualism, and constant criticism of everyone in sight gains him no admirers. He’s not completely wrong in his barbs at the school administration, which curries favor with their wealthier patrons; or the entitled, underachieving students who don’t appreciate their privilege.
Hunham gets assigned to supervise the “holdovers,” the students who can’t return home for the Christmas holidays; he cares little for his charges, including Angus (Dominic Sessa), a bright pupil who’s also a defiant, spoiled brat. The holdovers eventually dwindle down to Hunham, Angus, and Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the school’s head cook who’s dealing with her own personal loss.
The forced togetherness brings forth some genuine soul-searching. In a drippier, more sentimental movie, Hunham and Angus would become best friends, but Payne’s more authentic: in his film, it’s enough that the self-pitying teacher and lonely rich kid develop mutual understanding and the beginnings of empathy. Filmed in a style that deliberately evokes the messy, character-driven aesthetic of 1970’s American filmmaking, The Holdovers already feels like a classic—and with its exceptional acting, brilliant script by David Hemingson, humor, and surprising optimism, this unusual Christmas parable is destined to become a future classic.
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Rated R for profanity, drug use, and some sexual content | 133 minutes
Film descriptions are written by friend and cinema supporter, Dave Cooper.
Showtimes
Friday | 6 p.m.
*No Friday late-night showings for this film
Saturday-Sunday | 2 p.m. & 6 p.m.
Monday-Wednesday | 6 p.m.
Ticket information
$12 General Admission
$10 Students & Seniors
$8 SAC Members