Alexander Payne’s new film was hailed as one of the best of 2023. On March 10, 2024, we will find out how many Oscars he will receive. And he has a chance for five, because that’s how many nominations he got. In addition to the one for Giamatti, he may receive golden knight statuettes for the best film, for the original screenplay for Paul Hemingson, for the best supporting actress – Da’vine Joy Randolph and for the best editing – Kevin Tent. “Winter Solstice” also won the Golden Globe for best comedy film. The jury awarding the very prestigious awards of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association also recognized Paul Giamatti.
Payne, the director of such films as “Sideways” and “Schmidt”, has an excellent hand in selecting actors for his films. Paul Giamatti plays for Payne for the second time. They met in 2004 while working on “Bezdro¿y”. The actor then played the role of a writer with a jealous heart who takes his fellow actor on a journey through the picturesque vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley. Along the way, they are struck by the wine, the beauty of the women and the realization that life really depends on them.
Artistic meeting after almost 20 years
Alexander Payne was waiting until he could offer Paul Giamatti a role that would match his talent and personality. It was probably the best collaboration I’ve ever had with an actor, and I’ve had a lot of good ones. – Payne recalls working on the set of the film “Sideways”.
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20 years passed and Payne approached Giamatti with a proposition. For him, he played the role of an unpredictable, independent, caustic professor of ancient history who was not liked by his students and colleagues. Paul Hunham works at the private, elite Barton Academy in New England, where boys from the so-called good houses. His pupils call him “Starfish”, say he stinks and wish him the worst. Hunham doesn’t care about it and sticks to his principles. He is incorruptible and implacable. He writes ancient dictations like crazy and secretly dreams that one day he will write a historical monograph.
The film is stylized in the 1970s, and its action takes place at the turn of 1970 and 1971. We can almost hear the pleasant crackle of an old vinyl record. We are entering a Christmas postcard. You can see the stylish buildings of the school campus covered in snow. The river gurgles merrily and Christmas carols sing in the background. Barton Academy welcomes you.
However, the idyll is only apparent. The war in Vietnam is in full swing and various important social and political changes are taking place in the country. But for the staff and students of Barton Academy, only one thing counts – Christmas and the opportunity to go on holiday.
Three-week holiday therapy
However, not everyone will be able to enjoy such relaxation. Paul Hunham must remain within the school walls as punishment. He poured water on the millionaire’s son, Osgood, and was given a penance. He doesn’t regret it, because he wouldn’t have anywhere to go anyway. However, he planned to devote himself to doing nothing and reading crime novels in his run-down and dusty office apartment. Unfortunately, he has to deal with a group of jets. Spending Christmas with him are the rebellious and very bright 15-year-old Angus (Dominic Sessa, making his debut on the big screen) and the dark-skinned cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Although it seems that there will be more unfortunate people trapped in Barton Academy. At the beginning there are five students, but four are “saved” by the father of one of them, who takes them on a Christmas skiing trip. So they escape from the cold – literally, because the heating was turned off for the holidays – holidays inside the school walls.
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Angus, although he comes from a rich family, has not experienced emotional warmth so far. He stays at Burton Academy because his mother won’t take him for Christmas. She planned a long-delayed honeymoon with her new husband. Mary sticks to Barton Academy because it is a place that makes her feel close to her son, Curtis, who died a few months ago in the Vietnam War. Here they spent several happy years together.
Three people who are loved by no one and who have no one to love anymore – or at least they think so – undergo mutually compulsory three-week psychotherapy. From December 17 to the first week of January, they have plenty of time to look into themselves. Even though Paul Hunham repeats that life is like a ladder in a henhouse, short and miserable, somewhere there is new hope. After an initial period of reluctance, they start talking to each other. The Christmas atmosphere slowly seeps into their hearts. Because everything is as it should be around, it’s snowing and you can hear Christmas carols.
Alexsander Payne made a film that evokes echoes of great nostalgic hits and has a deceptively warm Christmas atmosphere. But it’s not the magic of Christmas that causes Mary, Angus and Paul to become emotionally secretive. It is the emerging closeness and breaking down of limitations. Each of these three characters wears a mask and is afraid of returning to the past. However, there comes a moment when they are ready for this confrontation. They are like snails coming out of their shells. During the Christmas dinner, Hunham decides to take an unprecedented step – he smoothes his mustache, combs his bangs and uses an air freshener as a deodorant.
A comedy-drama written for three voices
“Winter Solstice” is a comedy-drama, so it is a noble genre and difficult to produce. Serious matters are discussed here in a light, joking way.
Paul Giamatti mentions that he knows the atmosphere of private American schools very well. CI went to a school just like the one in the movie – he said. My father was a professor. My mother was a teacher. My grandparents were teachers. Everyone in my family is a teacher or scientist. It’s a background I understand and have contact with. I also read several texts mentioned in the script. I thought a lot about my past and the people I knew. Much of my preparation was based on this. My character is a tense guy, but he has a sense of humor. Most of the time he’s at other people’s expense, but I think he’s funny – he talked about his hero.
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Paul Hunham played by Paul Giamatti is a sensitive person who has put on the armor of a cynic. He promised himself during his studies that no one would hurt him again and that he would defend his rights. He is tormented because he thinks that most of his students are spoiled, unintelligent children, and the principal, who was once in his class, is a careerist and an idiot.
Paul Giamatti is a respected actor. His credits include such films as: “The Deadly Cocktail”, “Captive”, “Saving Mr. Banks”, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, “Cosmopolis”, “Everybody Wins”, “San Andreas”, “The Game for two”, “The Illusionist”, “The Negotiator”, “The Truman Show”, “Saving Private Ryan” and Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning drama “Sideways”, which earned Giamatti nominations for a Golden Globe and a SAG Award. In 2006, his performance in Ron Howard’s The Ringmaster earned him his first SAG Award and Broadcast Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination in the same category. Now the actor has already received a Golden Globe for “Winter Solstice”. Critics agree that it is a sure candidate for an Oscar.
A new acting talent was born on the set of “Winter Solstice”. Dominik Sessa, who played Angus, had never been in front of a camera before. He defeated hundreds of rivals in the fight for this role. And then he decided to take up acting studies. Sessa calls his experience working with Giamatti “a master class.”
Angus is a rebellious teenager. Barton Academy is the next stop on his school journey. If they throw him out, he will go to military school, and he is terrified of that. He keeps up appearances, but deep inside he misses the warmth of his family. He’ll give Paul Hunham quite a beating before he allows himself a bit of closeness.
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Paul Giamatti was very happy to meet the film’s Mary, i.e. Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Payne chose it, among others: because of her comic talent. Often when casting dramatic roles, I like to have actors with a comedic flair because they will be able to play the emotions – said the director. When Alexander told me he had cast Da’Vine, I was very excited. She was everything I had hoped she would be and more. She’s very creative, really funny. She also created such a wonderful character – someone truly multi-layered. He is a powerhouse and an incredibly colorful talent – said Giamatti about Da’vine, known to cinema fans, among others. from such roles in productions as “My name is Dolemite” or “Crimes next door”.
“Winter Solstice” is advertised as a Christmas comedy. But it is more than that. It is a film that opens hearts and minds, and at the same time moves and entertains. There is room for verbal and situational humor here. Serious problems are pulsating in the background. Social inequality and racism come to the fore. The ending is bittersweet. Payne plays with viewers’ habits. Christmas stories have a happy ending, after all. However, Paul, Agnus and Mary have potential and have discovered their strength. “Winter Solstice” in Polish cinemas from January 26.
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Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
