Michael Lehman

i’m my opinion this is one of the most impactful war films i’ve seen to date. although the film concludes with a somewhat unsatisfying and upsetting ending, i think that just further proves how the film depicts the harsh realities of war. the film spends most of its time focusing on the humanity of war and how people’s mental states and innocence crumbles at the hands of it. through the use of polaroids and flashes of photographs captured by the journalists, the film shows some of the most disturbing and upsetting imagery that i’ve seen in recent memory, and plants the idea into your head that this reality isn’t too far off from our own.

I dont think i can say anything that others havent already said, The Holdovers is a masterpiece. From everything from the slightly vintage audio, to the 35mm cameras used for production, this film just felt like a classic waiting to be seen. The film perfectly encapsulats the essence of Christmas that I can see it becoming a holiday classic, it will be for me at least.

Although a lot of the shots do drag on longer than they may need to, people need to understand that this is an experimental film and it is intentionally slow in order to create suspense and fear, and personally i think it achieved that exponentially well.

As Jesse Eisenberg's directorial debut, i think this film is nearly perfect. Everything, down to the acting, cinematography, script, was so well thought out that it's almost hard to believe this is his first film. Theres so much character put in from himself as a director that you can almost instantly tell that this is his film. It's been a long time since I've sympathized with characters as much as I did in this film. It may simply be because of my personal experiences, but theres something about this film thats stayed with me ever since i initially saw it, and i think anybody that likes Jesse Eisenberg and his movies he's acted in should see and support this film in theaters while you can.