We are in the thick of the Oscars season, and rejoice — because two more Oscar Best Picture nominees can be accessed by Filipino viewers right now: The Holdovers and Maestro.

‘THE HOLDOVERS’

Like a Cheeries Jubilee on a cold harsh night. 

Alexander Payne — auteur of dialogue-driven comedies rooted in themes of pain, disappointment and melancholia — unleashes another happy-sad story jacked up by the performance of the great Paul Giamatti.

Clearly, The Holdovers, with five Oscar nominations, is aiming for the ’90s classic movie feels, where content over style is at the forefront. It also obviously desires a place in history as that “unforgettable holiday movie.”

Although The Holdovers, in my book, is not the best in Payne’s “greatest hits” (I still prefer Sideways, then there’s also the more superior Election and Nebraska), it’s still high up in my rank of this year’s Oscar Best Picture nominees.

Payne’s new comedy is a character study of a Grinch in the form of Classics teacher, Mr. Hunham (Giamatti), who makes life in a fictional fancy New England boarding school, Barton, a living hell.

Hunham’s job is to watch over “the holdovers” — a bunch of rich kids with nowhere to go during the holiday break and must stay in school. The setting is 1970. No social media. No Taylor Swift. Nothing to distract the holdovers from their holiday blues. 

For smart student Angus Tully (the amazing newcomer Dominic Sessa), his holiday break has become a “one big detention” because of the highly unpleasant teacher as his guardian.

Of course, we predict early on that Hunham and Tully will grow from enemies to strong allies — the kind that is akin to a father-and-son love. But, still, it’s the journey getting there that counts.

Screenwriter David Hemingson’s clear, concise writing and Payne’s inspired direction render The Holdovers engaging and often hilarious. It cleverly portrays negative underlying human conditions underneath all that protective veneer.

Hunham and Tully are both hurt, and they mask these shameful emotions in mean-spirited behavior. The teacher hides his sadness behind strict compliance to rules and the philosophies of Marcus Aurelius, while the student masks his loneliness behind his smartassery and rebellion.

Rage, cruelty and intolerance are secondary emotions to fear and sadness, and Payne’s world brings this to light in a crystal-clear manner. This is why The Holdovers work. We empathize with the anti-heroes — these flawed individuals putting up walls to cope with the agonies of life.

As Hunnam and Tully’s relationship gradually transforms, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, which are better than the film’s dramatic side.

Apart from Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph steals the show in her luminous portrayal of the grief-stricken school cook, whose wisdom and kindness provide the balance and the calm in the school’s stormy atmosphere.

Laced with a somewhat manipulative soundtrack, including a couple of Cat Stevens mellow pop-folk tunes, The Holdovers may be a little self-aware and emotionally controlling, but it is compensated by its many triumphs.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Now showing in select Philippine cinemas

‘MAESTRO’

Bradley Cooper is the maestro in Maestro. He worked as the director, co-writer and star in a biopic centered on the complicated relationship between American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan).

Gunning for art-house feels, and lensed by the exceptional cinematographer, the Fil-Am Matthew Libatique  (who also photographed Cooper’s debut film A Star is Born), Maestro is more focused on highlighting Cooper’s craft than Bernstein’s genius and personality.

This film screams: “Look how multitalented Bradley Cooper is!” — from his impersonation of the promiscuous bisexual composer to his film’s transition from black-and-white to color, down to the beads of sweat on his forehead dripping down his prosthetic nose, to his nasal voice.

Sure, everything looks breathtaking and meticulous — but nothing emotionally sticks. It is boring.

It lounges around, using affected, ambiguous dialogue and a bizarre sense of time. It dresses itself as an artsy-fartsy biopic that it loses its attention on its main agenda: shining light on the complexities of Bernstein’s and Montealegre’s controversial relationship.

He is a sexually wanton musical genius, but you do not experience this — you just see it.  And you never understand why she is drawn to him (what a waste of Mulligan’s brilliant performance), because the film is deliberately trying to be unconventional. 

Lacking in heart and soul, Maestro is too busy trying to impress you with the movements of the conductor that it forgets the symphony itself. Mulligan is the redeeming factor here.

 2 out of 5 stars

On Netflix