I gave up on Monster Hunter and have finally gotten around to The Holdovers. There’s backstory to this before it even begins - Oscar winner, Paul Giamatti is in it, and it has an aura of The Catcher in the Rye.
That book set up coming of age stories for private school guys that I have to pack up and head home for the winter. I believe how you react to Holden Caufield the first time is how you will always look at that demographic.
I didn’t like Holden when I first read the book in high school. I didn’t empathize with his issues and was glad he got beat up in NYC. I remember that any young star they interviewed in the 90’s referenced him as an inspiration. Jake Gyllenhaal’s character in the Good Girl renamed himself Holden. I didn’t get it. I also watched but wasn’t moved by Dead Poet’s Society and wasn’t taken by Ethan Hawke until Reality Bites.
I’ve softened to Holden as I get older. In his world, he was going through a lot and running away to NYC for the holidays was his idea of rebellion. At 15, all I could concentrate on were the repercussions had I done something like that - the punishment was not worth the fantasy of the adventure. Today, if one of my students told me a similar story I would get a kick out of it and then send a note to the counselor to follow up. I can find the humor in Holden more now.
Back to the film. A legacy student isn’t being handed a C- and my guess is he’s the Holden that will spend the holidays with Giamatti. I went to state school and never hung out with students that went to Exeter, but have you noticed that language has changed? I have to watch films about upstate New York and read the work of Galloway to get language. When did this happen? Was it social media?
This film will be watched if not simply because I like to hear conversations with language. It’s almost 70 degrees in California, but for the next two hours it’ll be hovering in the 20’s while I watch this Holden-esque character brave the holidays on campus.