To see at the cinema: What if Winter Break was the best Christmas movie of 2023?

To see at the cinema: What if Winter Break was the best Christmas movie of 2023?

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Winter 1970: Mr. Hunham is a professor of ancient history at a prestigious private boys’ high school in New England. Pedantic and rude, neither students nor colleagues appreciate him. As Christmas approaches, Mr. Hunham is asked to stay on campus to keep an eye on some of the residents confined there.

Soon, only one remains: Angus, a first-grader who is as talented as he is defiant. Due to the recent death of her son in Vietnam, Mary, a cook at the facility, prefers to stay away from the festivities. It completes this incredible trio.

GRUMPY CHRISTMAS

“In joy and good humor”, the poster tells us, where smiles are rare. don’t say And it’s undoubtedly one of the most effective taglines of 2023, as it fits perfectly with what’s shaping up to be the best Christmas movie of the year. The most unexpected.

Six years after the failure of Downsizing, Alexander Payne returns to his roots. And especially Sideways, in which we’ve already found Paul Giamatti, and whose Winter Vacation might be a snowier (and slightly less alcoholic) counterpart, combining the loneliness of its characters with comic and dramatic momentum.

The story takes place in the early 1970s, during the holidays in the corridors of an abandoned American private high school. Except for the few left and the cute little professor in charge of monitoring them. If this premise reminds you of anything, it’s because you’ve seen Marcel Pagnoli’s Merlus. Like Alexander Payne, who does not hide it and recognizes the source of his inspiration.

“I only saw it once, but it left an impression on me”he said at the press conference. David Hemmingson Wrote an excellent pilot for a series set in a private boys’ high school. I contacted him and told him that I didn’t want to do a pilot, but to submit an idea for a feature film.” So what’s here and which seems to tempt wherever it goes, despite the length (2 hrs. 13), which may be inauspicious.

Playing the 70s movie card to the point where you’d believe it was made in 1971, Alexander Payne explores the flaws of his characters. In an exchange that is sometimes lively, sometimes tender, where laughter quickly gives way to emotion. And vice versa. A success that owes as much to the writing and direction as to its casting.

If we’re already familiar with the talents of Paul Giamatti and Davin Joy Randolph (Murder Only), it’s really Dominic Sessa who bursts onto the screen… in his first film role. A revelation that is like a movie: funny, intense, exciting and very unexpected.

When you’re waiting to see him, whether on the small or big screen, you’ll leave the theater feeling like you’ve spent over two hours in a balloon, a snow globe, right next to him. Joy and good humor are not always there, but we do live in the presence of a good movie, a real movie. And a nice early Christmas present.

Source: Allocine

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