An explanation of the present.

The Holdovers – 3/5

Dominic Sessa has a face like a painting. Frustration and sadness and an inner life in just a still image. He looks like a shit-ass kid, and he carries himself like a shit-ass kid. Paul Giamatti feels like Paul Giamatti, which I have no complaint about, I like Paul Giamatti. The movie feels nice, it's acted well, it's a movie of familiar beats and hits them all, except one. One day, this grump wakes up and decides to be different. He is asked, repeatedly, to change, but nothing seems to get through, nothing seems to register and then, one day—he just changes. There's a key transition scene missing, a dawning realization, a look in the mirror, that makes it hard for me to follow the movie all the way to the end. If I try, I can fill in the gap: he had no one to support him in his own bout of trouble, and here is a chance for him to support someone—to his detriment. But that doesn't even work for me, because throughout the movie, he rails against the privileged class and what they get away with, and here he is letting one of them get away with it. I'm definitely putting more weight on this movie because of its Oscars buzz, but all it really amounts to is a light slice of life in a 1970s school. It's fine at that; nothing more.