While the rest of the school is away, the history teacher, Mr Hunham (Paul Giammati), has been assigned to keep an eye on the boys that can’t go home for Christmas. He runs a tight ship, and seems to have fun in making students miserable by having them wake early to exercise and study, even though it’s a holiday. Soon, all but one find a way to get out of there.
Relationship
This hostage/holdover student, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), escapes every attempt by Hunham to discipline hem, culminating in Angus purposefully jumping off some gym equipment and spraining his arm. This leads to some of the funniest acting in the movie with a screaming Angus throwing a tantrum at the back of a car while a panicked Hunham speeds to the nearest hospital. Showing an unexpected extension of kindness, Angus lies about how his arm is sprained to absolve his teacher of any blame. It’s the start of a shift in the relationship between teacher and student.
The film’s strongest element are the beautiful performances given by our trio protagonists. During a Christmas party, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who plays the only other person still at the school, cook Mary Lamb, delivers a fantastic performance as she breaks down grieving her son, who she lost in the Vietnam War. It won her the Oscar for best supporting actress.
Perfect snark
Giammati embodies that person we all know, who takes their job way too seriously and whose life‘s purpose is to revel in whatever little power they have. He has the perfect snark to deliver an insult like “That boy is too dumb to pour piss out of a boot. A genuine troglodyte” without it coming off as unnatural. Dominic Sessa is able to really hold his own among veteran actors even though this film is his debut. He plays a bitter but sly teenager extremely well.
The film's setting in the 70s seems to be purposeful. Maybe, in the present, we have the unfortunate privilege of not realising when we’re lonely because of all the distractions that modern technology gives us. For the trio, it is comforting to be among people who also have nowhere else to go on Christmas. You’re not alone in being alone.
Favourite quotes:
„Listen, you hormonal vulgarian, that woman deserves your respect, not your erotic speculation.“ - Paul Hunham
“You can't even dream a whole dream, can you?” - Mary Lamb
“Twisted fucker orphaned that glove on purpose. Left you with one so the loss would sting that much more.” - Angus Tully
Katya Mannar