How's this for timing? A new Christmas classic has arrived in Irish cinemas at the tail end of January. But don't let that ah-here scheduling and any post-festive fug put you off seeing The Holdovers as soon as possible. Chances are you'll still be feeling the glow next December.
After 20 years of hankering, the Sideways duo of director Alexander Payne and star Paul Giamatti have reunited. The two-decade wait has proven to be a blessing, as Da'Vine Joy Randolph and newcomer Dominic Sessa - a teen and infant, respectively, when Sideways came out - join Payne and Giamatti to complete a magic line-up for a gem of a movie.
Set in 1970, this bittersweet story of a curmudgeonly teacher (Giamatti), a rebellious student (Sessa), and a grieving cook (Randolph) stuck together in a boarding school over the holidays deserves a place among the best movies from that decade - it's that special. A snow globe plays a key part in the plot, and you'll feel like you're in one as writer David Hemingson's beautiful script unfolds.
Those hoping for another Giamatti masterclass here will more than get their money's worth. He's better than he was in Sideways. But here's the thing: Randolph and Sessa are every bit as brilliant. Randolph has come to the brightest of big-screen futures via Broadway, Empire, and Dolemite Is My Name. Sessa was found in one of the schools where The Holdovers was filmed. It's his first acting job - and he's matching Giamatti. Marvel at that while watching.
Often riotously funny and sometimes terribly sad, The Holdovers arrives at a time when a European Parliament study finds that Ireland has the highest levels of loneliness in Europe while the US Surgeon General Dr Vivek H Murthy warns that "our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an unprecedented public health crisis". The events in this film take place 54 years ago and they feel like they're today.
In an age when film watching has become such a solitary experience on small screens, try to see The Holdovers on a big one with people either side of you - and think about asking someone else along. The best of company awaits, in more ways than one.
