Holdovers

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freePaul Giamatti was reduced to tears by Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s acceptance speech at the 2024 Oscars.The actor, who appeared alongside Randolph in the boarding school-set drama The Holdovers, was seen growing visibly emotional as his co-star accepted the prize for Best Supporting Actress.Randolph won the award for her role in the film as a grieving mother, while Giamatti was nominated for…

Da’Vine Joy Randolph has won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in The Holdovers at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles.Randolph, who played the school’s head cook Mary Lamb in the film, was the strong favourite for the award, having won nearly every best supporting actress prize in the run-up to the Oscars, including the Golden Globe, Bafta, Critics’ Choice, Independent Spirit and Screen Actors Guild awards. In the end she saw off competition including Jodie Foster (for Nyad), Emily Blunt (for Oppenheimer)…

From the first time I heard about The Holdovers, I knew that Alexander Payne reteaming with Paul Giamatti for the first time in 20 years was going to be one of the best movies of 2023. And I was right. Like several of my colleagues who couldn’t get enough of the Oscar-nominated film about a teacher, a student, and a school cook reluctantly spending the holidays together, I was floored by the humor, drama, and overall superb emotional tone of the touching dramedy.Though Giamatti and newcomer Dominic Sessa, who played Paul…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeSimon Stephenson, the Scottish screenwriter whose credits include Pixar’s critically acclaimed animated feature film Luca, has accused Oscar-nominated movie The Holdovers of plagiarism.The allegation lands on the eve of this year’s Academy Awards, where the 2023 comedy-drama is up for five trophies including Best Original Screenplay.In an exclusive report by Variety, emails sent by…

Chaos before the Oscars! Just a day before the 96th Academy Awards, The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne, has landed deep into trouble after facing plagiarism accusations by another Hollywood writer. The script for The Holdovers, penned by David Hemingson, is currently in the running for Best Original Screenplay at the 2024 Oscars scheduled to kick off on March 10. Meanwhile, Simon Stephenson, renowned for penning the 2019 film Luca, called out the abovementioned script as very similar to his own. Alexander…

Looks like when you sit down to watch the 96th Oscar Awards ceremony this time, seekers of a little controversy will not have to wait for one with bated breath as Alexander Payne’s widely celebrated and praised The Holdovers is already attracting the wrong kind of attention. In a shocking expose by Variety, it has been revealed screenwriter Simon Stephenson (who penned Luca) accused Payne, the director of The Holdovers, of plagiarising the unproduced script he wrote, titled Frisco. Based on the email evidence revealed by…

If the best picture Oscar was handed out to the film that elicited the warmest collective glow from cinemagoers, bookmakers would have long since stopped accepting bets on The Holdovers. Does anyone anywhere actively dislike Alexander Payne’s boarding school drama? If they do they’re keeping very quiet. It’s a film that, in its dopamine hit of warm nostalgia, seems pretty much backlash proof.Curiously though, it’s that same quality that, for some, will mean that The Holdovers wouldn’t be a deserving best picture winner.…

I had a few teachers I adored in my years at school – and one or two, perhaps, who even inspired me in some capacity – but I can’t say a film about my relationship with them would make for particularly thrilling viewing. Teaching is hard graft, and often thankless; even the best in the profession are rarely rewarded with the kind of dewy, triumphant tributes that cap off many a Hollywood classroom drama. Yet the inspirational teacher film remains a mainstay: film-makers never tire of imagining the schooldays they’d like…

Film: The HoldoversCast: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Carrie Preston.Director: Alexander PayneRating: 4/5Runtime: 133 min The narrative opens in a New England boarding school over the Christmas break in 1970. An old-fashioned taskmaster, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is the Classics teacher who is tasked with staying on campus over the break, as chaperone to the few students who aren’t going home for Christmas. He is most hated and trolled mercilessly by his students but the curmudgeon…

Da'Vine Joy Randolph may have become a household name for her devastating turn as a grieving school cook in the acclaimed Alexander Payne dramedy The Holdovers, for which she already won a Golden Globe and is arguably the frontrunner to scoop up the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress this year. But the performer has been turning out stellar performances for years, including opposite frequent co-star and veritable comedy icon Eddie Murphy in films like Dolemite Is My Name and On the Come Up.In a recent interview…