THE HOLDOVERS
Credit: Universal
Paul Giamatti looks to be the deserved front-runner for Best Actor, with Da’Vine Joy Randolph up for Best Supporting Actress, thanks to their blissfully entertaining performances in The Holdovers. Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a grumpy but principled teacher at Barton private prep school in 1970, who isn’t really liked by his peers or his underachieving students.
It’s Christmas, and Hunham has drawn the short straw and must stay onsite to look after the holdovers – a group of random students whom, for one reason or another, aren’t able to go back to their families over the festive period. So with most of the school campus closed for the winter break, they all must stay in the one heated building, with school cook Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) on-hand to prepare their meals. The misfits group, including Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), learn