Comedy drama The Holdovers has been hailed by critics as a welcome (and in recent years rare) addition to the canon of classic Christmas films. It is the second Alexander Payne film screened by WFC (we screened Nebraska in 2014) and features a standout performance from Paul Giamatti, star of Payne’s breakthrough film Sideways: perfectly cast as Hunham, the curmudgeonly Massachusetts boarding school teacher forced to chaperone a group of pupils over the Christmas break.

Like Sideways and Nebraska, The Holdovers plays with the road movie genre, a staple of the 1970s, the decade in which the film is set. The entire film is a love letter to the naturalistic and character-driven New Hollywood cinema of the 1970s: Payne wanted the film and even its trailer not just to look like a film set in that decade, but to look, feel and sound like a film actually made then.

It was filmed on traditional film stock used in Hollywood in the 70s, with the physical film then aged to give it a grainy aesthetic, and features a mono sound mix. The film even opens with a 1970s era rating card and custom-made retro studio logos; with introductory credits stating the film to have been made in 1971.

As he did in Nebraska, Payne explores intergenerational relationships to great comic and emotional effect. While the older actors, particularly Da’Vine Joy Randolph as school cook Mary, drew most attention during awards season, the performance of Dominic Sessa – making an impressive screen debut as the rebellious pupil Tully – is also key to the film’s success.

“The softest and sweetest movie of Payne’s career so far … a great big warm hug of a movie” Kevin Maher, The Times

“A beautifully written and performed piece of cinema … champions the qualities that have come to represent Christmas spirit – redemption, renewal and generosity.” Patrick Cremona, Radio Times