Alexander Payne, USA 2023

At the Barton Academy, an elite boys prep school, when students can’t go home for the Christmas holidays they are referred to as holdovers. Every year these unfortunate holdovers are supervised by an equally unfortunate teacher, this year Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is the unpopular history teacher that is left to supervise the troubled teen, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa). As you would expect neither are looking forward to spending the holidays together, however an unlikely bond is formed as the two ‘left behinds’ struggle to find their way in the place they find themselves. 

This film is the second collaboration for Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti. Their previous film SIDEWAYS (2004) is one of my favorites and also saw Giamatti portraying a rather unhappy teacher. Maybe a theme here? Theme or not I will look forward to any further portrayal by Giamatti, teaching or not. (CR)