The Holdovers

media release:USA | 2023 | 35mm | 133 min.

Director: Alexander Payne

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph

In the last days of 1970, Paul “Walleye” Hunham (Giamatti), a strict and hated history instructor at an exclusive New England boarding school for boys, is tasked with watching over the few students not spending the Christmas holidays with their families. The isolating circumstances draw Hunham closer in friendship with the smart-but-troubled junior Angus Tully (Sessa), and Mary Lamb (Randolph), the school’s head cook. The witty and humane tale of these three wise misfits, one of the most acclaimed films of 2023, is loaded with emotional grace notes and marvelous performances. Director and two-time Academy Award winner Payne will be present for a post-screening discussion of The Holdovers, presented here on one of a limited number of 35mm prints created for the theatrical release.

Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times. Please visit our website for a complete listing of programs and descriptions.

ALEXANDER PAYNE IN PERSON!

Fresh from his triumph with The Holdovers, the Cinematheque welcomes back filmmaker Alexander Payne, who last visited our screening facilities and the Wisconsin Film Festival in 2014. The two-time Academy Award winner will present The Holdovers, a movie designed to look like it was made in 1970, on one of a limited number of 35mm prints. Payne will also offer an introduction to a movie he recently cited as one of his very favorites, William A. Wellman’s rousing and moving 1951 Western, Westward the Women, also presented on 35mm.