One of the best films of the decade has arrived on Netflix.
Do not dare to miss it
The masterpiece that went up on Netflix, the hit on Disney Plus, the romantic gem on VOD, and also one French film in theaters. Four viewing recommendations and one warning
Movies worth watching
“The Holdovers”: One of the best films of the decade has arrived on Netflix
“The Holdovers” premiered about two years ago. It achieved a nice commercial success and won several awards.
Now it also joins the local Netflix catalog, and if someone has not watched it yet, now is the time. Today, as we are already in winter 2025 and right in the middle of this decade, it can already be said that it is without a doubt one of the best films of the decade.
As a reminder, here is what we wrote about it at the time:
The seventies are considered the golden age of American cinema.
Therefore, to say about a film that it reminds you of that period is the highest compliment, like saying about a football player that he reminds you of Pele.
“The Holdovers” deserves the ultimate superlative.
It takes place between 1970 and 1971, and it looks as if it was also filmed in those years.
The film was directed by Alexander Payne, who broke out about half a decade ago with films like “About Schmidt,” which made him one of the most respected creators in American independent cinema.
In the last decade he has faded a little and also took a long break, but here he returns in a big way, joining forces with Paul Giamatti, who starred in his best film so far, “Sideways” from 2004.
Giamatti plays a character whose first name is also Paul.
He is a teacher at a Prep School, a unique and specific American institution, a kind of combination of a prep school and an all-boys boarding school, meant to prepare privileged boys for college on the East Coast, from which their future lives will be paved.
The expectation of him is not to interfere.
Many of the boys are “sons of,” and he is supposed to give them whatever grade comes.
But Paul is an oddball, insisting on educating his students and giving them the grade they deserve.
As a result, despite his knowledge and wisdom, both the administration and the students despise him.
The tension reaches its peak around Christmas.
Most students travel for vacation with their families, but a few have no one to be with and remain on campus.
The administration looks for a teacher to stay as a responsible adult, and since Paul is a loser without children, it is easy to assign it to him.
Thus, he finds himself supervising Angus, one of his most hostile and alienated students.
As the title implies, the two must spend time together in the empty place, and they meet other characters whose holidays are not happy.
For example, the school cook, a black woman whose son died in the army, where he enlisted to pay for tuition, as Americans without wealthy parents do.
They also interact with a waitress who works shifts on both Thanksgiving and Christmas to make ends meet.
Through these encounters, the film illustrates the unbearable tension existing throughout the history of the United States the tension between the percent that has everything and the 99 percent that have nothing, between those born with a silver spoon in their mouth and those served the cutlery, between those who inherit a seat in the most prestigious institutions and those who are very close to them, but somewhere down below, in the kitchen or restaurant of the ivory tower.
Paul and Angus are the ideal characters to illustrate the tension between the two sides, as they are both part of the system but also outsiders in it.
The teacher is apparently flesh of the elite intellectual America, but despises it and how it operates. Angus is apparently part of the privileged, but his parents are far from exemplary his family is dysfunctional for reasons revealed later.
In other words, both are underdogs who do not really belong anywhere, with a foot here and a foot there.
They are not working class, but certainly not representatives of privilege.
Their willingness to cross boundaries takes them and us on a journey, which easily crosses the campus limits and ultimately leads to several emotional peaks.
The script by David Hemingson is a bit spoon-fed, but fluent, witty, and presents the two juiciest and funniest insults seen in cinema in recent years.
They are voiced by Paul, whose sarcasm could have made him unbearable, but thanks to Giamatti’s personal charm, he evokes sympathy and identification, avoiding pathos despite his loser status.
On the other side, Dominic Sessa is wonderful as Angus it is hard to believe this is his first film role. Darwyn Joy Randolph is expectedly deserving of an Oscar for her performance.
The casting and acting of every supporting character, minor as they may be, hit the mark.
Payne and his excellent cinematographer, Danish Iggy Braild, sketch this adventure with broad brushstrokes, giving the small, chamber story epic volume.
The use of zooms and other expressive techniques typical of 1970s American cinema is done tastefully, without fake nostalgia or forced mannerisms.
The soundtrack presents period songs, for example by Cat Stevens, alongside more contemporary music, which also sounds like something Simon and Garfunkel wrote in real time.
All these give the film classic quality.
Just as one tastes good fruit and says “Wow, it came straight from the tree,” so is “The Holdovers” the feeling is that it came straight from the seventies, without artificial colors or preservatives.
In an interview, Alexander Payne said he met Walter Murch, the legendary editor who worked on films like “Apocalypse Now” and knows the seventies well.
He told him that more than anything, the spirit of the period is expressed in this way: when characters part, they do not kiss on the cheek, but shake hands.
So is “The Holdovers.”
It avoids sycophancy, flattery, and the excessive effort of the cheek kiss.
Instead, it is the cinematic equivalent of a handshake an action with class, restraint, calm, true gentlemanliness.
We have seen many films about an unusual bond between an eccentric mentor and a sensitive student.
But unlike “Dead Poets Society” or “Good Will Hunting,” for example, “The Holdovers” does not go in the direction of tragedy or redemption, but in much subtler, more interesting, and complex directions.
In the restrained spirit of the handshake, Paul and Angus do not turn each other’s worlds upside down, but encourage each other to be the best version of themselves, reminding each other of the most important thing in the world where there are no people, strive to be a person.
“The Holdovers” takes place at Christmas, against the background of snow already so associated with it in popular culture.
American media have already declared it a new Christmas classic, one that will be broadcast and watched every December.
And yet, it is also a very Jewish film, because precisely during the Christian holiday, its heroes teach us the most important Jewish lesson of all how to be a mensch.
“Freaky Friday”: The great hit has arrived on Disney Plus
Even when the world goes crazy and everything turns upside down, some things do not change.
One is Hollywood’s tendency to produce endless remakes and sequels, specifically its long-standing affection for the “Freaky Friday” brand, which the industry cannot let go.
As recalled, “Freaky Friday” started in the seventies as a book by Mary Rodgers, about a mother and daughter who switch bodies for a short time, enough to teach them about each other’s perspectives and understand one another better.
In the mid-seventies, the first film adaptation arrived, starring a young Jodie Foster.
In the nineties, there was a TV movie, and in 2003 we saw the most successful and beloved adaptation, a characteristic film of that period, this time with Lindsay Lohan as the daughter and Jamie Lee Curtis as the mother.
This week, after filling theaters over the summer, “Freaky Friday” arrived on Disney Plus.
It is a sequel to the modern classic.
Jamie Lee Curtis is still here, now as an Oscar-winning actress, and Lindsay Lohan returns as well, continuing her magnificent comeback, looking simply wonderful vital, full of life, spreading light.
“The Musicians”: Not just for classical music fans, yes only for lovers of French cinema
At first glance, there are no more opposite worlds than popular cinema and classical music, but in fact we have already seen many films about pianists, violinists, etc.
Usually, they stay in the comfort zone of clichés: stories about tyrannical conductors, crazy musicians, all according to regular Hollywood conventions.
“The Musicians,” the French film premiering this weekend after achieving success in its home country, tries to rise above these norms.
The musicians are not played by stars but real musicians those who can read music and understand it, and also can act.
Marie Vial, Mathieu Spinozy, Emma Rabiere, and Daniel Greliczky you have not heard of them from Marvel hits because they are not famous actors, but trained musicians.
Furthermore, the result is not particularly Hollywood but quite intellectual, as only French films can afford.
It may sound inviting or not, but it is important to note that it is an accessible and entertaining comedy-drama, not just for symphony orchestra subscribers.
Here is the summary: The film’s heroine, played by Valérie Donzelli, is a woman named Astrid, who decides to fulfill her deceased father’s dream and manages to gather four rare Stradivarius instruments the cream of the crop of musical instruments.
The collection includes two violins, a viola, and a cello, and now the question is what to do with them. The answer: what her father would want to gather four virtuoso musicians to play a one-time celebratory concert according to a piece written by a legendary and enigmatic composer.
As the four masters start rehearsing the piece, disputes arise, and Astrid realizes that the only way to reconcile them is to invite the composer himself to the isolated villa where they gathered.
Will the talented but dysfunctional group manage to set their egos aside to achieve the best of themselves and the Stradivarius instruments in their possession?
The film answers this through witty dialogues, convincing performances and of course, wonderful music.
“Perfect Match”: One of the best films of the year
Dakota Johnson can now be seen in “Open Relationships,” which premiered this weekend and achieved relative commercial success.
If you have already watched it and wanted more of this star, or if you want to enjoy her without going to the cinema, we have a suggestion for you! “Perfect Match” starring her recently went up on VOD after being one of the surprising hits of the summer.
Like “Open Relationships,” “Perfect Match” falls under the broad umbrella of “romantic comedy,” though it is less comedic and more romantic or dramatic.
Johnson, who always plays the same character in the same way, plays here a young New Yorker torn between two lovers one rich and one poor.
Although the third act disappoints, overall it is one of the excellent films of the year.
Despite the disdain often directed at the romantic genre, it also says many interesting things about always-relevant topics like love, identity, money, cost of living and class gaps.