In December 1970, at a New England boarding school, the unpopular, pompous, and overly strict history teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) hands out severely harsh grades to his class just before the Christmas holidays. As punishment for failing a student of a wealthy school donor, Hunham is forced to supervise the ‘holdover’ students left on campus for the holidays, including the troubled and rebellious 15-year-old Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa).

Evoking the feel of the 1970s, complete with film look, the movie’s story is poised on the tipping point of when ordinary Americans were first privy to the horrors of war via televised media. The male boarding school students are neglected by their privileged parents over the school holiday and are forced to stay even further away from the reality of the times on their elite campus. The students are soon given a reprieve, apart from Angus who unfortunately is unable to contact his mother and new stepfather for the permission needed to join an impromptu ski trip. Completing an odd family trio for the holidays is school head cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who caters to the sons of the privileged while mourning the recent death of her own son in the Vietnam War.

While all three predictably attempt to come to a shared understanding of each other and of themselves, it is done so with nuance, grace and bittersweetness.

Verdict: Reuniting the director and lead of Sideways, the movie is on track to becoming a modern Christmas classic.

4.5 stars

Luke McWilliams, themovieclub.net