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Note: this film will be shown at Haddenham Village Hall |
Tuesday 28 May 2024 at 8.00pm (doors 7.30pm) THE HOLDOVERS (15) 133 mins Director: Alexander Payne Starring: Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa Synopsis: New England, December 1970. Having caught unwelcome attention after getting up the headmaster's nose, Paul Hunham, the prestigious Barton Academy's sardonic, inflexible Ancient Civilisations teacher, now pays the price. As a result, saddled with supervising five holdovers, students who can't return home for Christmas break, Paul must follow the school's standard schedule and endure two long weeks with the unwanted sons of privilege. After all, it's not that the unloved professor had any plans for the holidays. Now stuck with babysitting duty, the unwavering curmudgeon has one final chance to look life straight in the eye, stay true to himself, and reevaluate the quiet power of unexpected kindness and friendship. But what could a brilliant academic have in common with a bright teenage rebel and a grieving cafeteria manager? Awards: one Oscars win and four nominations, one BAFTA win and four nominations, Two Golden Globe wins and one nomination Reviews: "There’s a bracingly astringent bleakness under its surface layer of melancholy humour; a biting, sharp edge that counters the occasional lurch towards sentimentality." **** OBSERVER "Giamatti gives a wonderful performance here. He roots his character’s frustrations not in cruelty but in misguided desperation -- an eagerness to mould these boys into men better than himself." **** INDEPENDENT "It is the genius of Paul Giamatti to make us, over the course of this great movie, not just re-evaluate and learn to respect this mess of a man but actually... to love him" NEW STATESMAN |
