The most touching and funniest film of the year that far too few have seen

Late summer is approaching, everyone is soaking up the sun and we are going to recommend a Christmas film to you. Maybe to give you a little mental refreshment. But maybe also because it is a more than deserved Oscar winner and the probably the most touching film of the year is about.

At first glance, The Holdovers seems like a formulaic, standard story about people who come together despite their differences. That’s largely true. But this film, which is streaming on WOW starting today, is so much more. Anyone who doesn’t at least breathe a sigh of relief at the end of it really has no heart.

In The Holdovers, a group of dissimilar people must spend Christmas together

The Holdovers – these are the remaining ones, who, for example, do not go to their families over the holidays in boarding schools. Who stay on site, for whatever reason. Angus (Dominic Sessa) did not actually intend to be one of these people. But his distant mother and a few unfortunate circumstances force him to spend Christmas 1970 at his school.

For Angus, this is a nightmare, not least because there is only one teacher left on site: his arch enemy Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) – pedantic, old-fashioned, all in all a nasty person who can’t stand his students. The feeling is mutual. Caught between the two is the gruff but caring school cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who has also stayed.

At first, the shared meals are more than unpleasant. But over time, the three cannot help but open up to each other a little. Hardened fronts slowly dissolve. Suddenly, the three have to realize that they are all just people – who perhaps together a little bit better can do.

The Holdovers is loving, incredibly funny and full of emotions that concern us all

This dramedy is above all one thing: a manifesto about Respect and humanityThree characters, three fates, three emotional baggage and buried sadness. Not everyone suddenly thaws out and falls into each other’s arms without restraint. There are barriers here that are difficult to overcome. Mistrust and fears that often hold back open interaction.

In short, all the characters, brilliantly played and in the case of Joy Randolph awarded an Oscar, are really 100% approachable and understandable. They all behave sometimes understandingly, sometimes irrationally, as people do. And yet they have to learn: We don’t know at first glance what is going on in other people’s minds.

As the film progresses, we learn to love them all, even the horror teacher from history hell. The rude confrontations between Angus and Mr. Hunham are often hilarious. The vulnerable moments are bitter enough to make you cry. The message is endlessly hopeful. The Holdovers activates our charity, our empathy. And for that to happen, it needs to be watched by many more people.

You can now embark on this emotional journey in the streaming program at WOW.

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