By Nozomi Shima PZ ’25

Picture this: Finals are done, you’re settling in back home with an empty schedule, the sun has set outside your childhood bedroom window, and you need something to watch. If you ever find yourself in this situation, I have the cozy winter watchlist for you! 

The Holdovers

This film had a little time in the limelight during awards season last year, but since then, it has quietly earned itself the status of a winter break staple. Set at a New England boarding school (a la “Dead Poets Society”) in the ‘70s, it follows Angus, played with wit and a youthful cynicism by Hollywood newcomer Dominic Sessa. After bragging about his upcoming tropical beach voyages, he is met with a rude awakening by his mother’s news that in lieu of their family vacation, she will be taking the trip to honeymoon with her new husband. Now stranded at school, Angus and other “holdovers” with nowhere to go are left to be supervised by crotchety teacher Paul (Paul Giamatti), whose old-fashioned discipline forces them to run laps and study. When the other holdovers get conveniently whisked away on a generous parent’s helicopter, Angus is the last man standing, unable to go without his parents’ permission. Much to their chagrin, Angus and Paul are left together for the rest of the break, pushing Angus to wreak havoc in retaliation. After a careless injury, they form a sort of alliance, realizing that they have more to learn from each other than meets the eye. The pair are accompanied, humbled, and warmed by Mary, in Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Oscar-winning performance portraying a lonely cafeteria manager who recently lost her young son in the Vietnam War. Paul, Angus, and Mary offer in one another a much-needed companionship over the seemingly unrelenting winter break. “The Holdovers” captures the beauty of unlikely relationships grounded in care and untethered from age or experience. 

This is also perfect to watch with your family — it’s not stupid and raunchy or slow and pretentious, but understatedly funny and hits your heart in the right spots. 

Little Women

Oh, Greta Gerwig. You simply never miss! It is so hard to reimagine an oft-remade classic and add a fresh take that doesn’t compromise honoring the original text, but “Little Women” (2019) manages to achieve the impossible. With a dynamic cast of proven Hollywood stars including Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, Emma Watson, and Meryl Streep, director Gerwig breathes new life into a script that finally pairs together puffy sleeves and waistcoats with realistically spoken 1800s dialogue. This is distinctly a fall/winter movie, so cozy up with a warm drink while the leaves change color and snow starts to fall for Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth, four sisters growing up in Massachusetts making do while their father fights in the Civil War. With their childhood intercut with the sisters’ first forays into adulthood, Gerwig draws parallels that emphasize growth and change as they come of age. This movie has everything I want in a movie: family drama, ardent love confessions, timeless feminist speeches that remind us that these feelings have persisted for generations, deaths from diseases we haven’t collectively worried about for a century, non-American actors doing American accents that are either a little bad or perfectly depicting the old-timey speak of the era, a non-linear narrative distinguished by switches between warm and cool filters and having bangs, a gorgeous Alexander Desplat soundtrack that has seen too many of my study playlists, and Bob Odenkirk!

I just completed my sixth rewatch of this over Thanksgiving break and I do not fear growing tired of it any time soon. I love noticing a new detail every time and sure don’t mind watching Timothée Chalamet yearn for two hours.

Paddington and Paddington 2

How can we forget the greatest film of all time and its predecessor? The titular main character is a charming, troublemaking but well-intentioned climate refugee who must flee his life in the rainforests of Peru after a deadly earthquake and finds a new home with a lovely family in London after getting off the train at Paddington Station. 

Some things set him apart from the norm that he must adjust to — he is navigating city life for the first time and also happens to be an anthropomorphic bear. The first movie features Paddington earning the trust of the Brown family, who take him in while he escapes a taxidermist who specializes in exotic animals. 

Hijinks ensue. Paddington can’t seem to catch a break, because in the second movie, he is thrown in prison after being framed for a burglary and must figure out how to prove his innocence. Throughout the films, Paddington’s unbreachable moral code, optimistic outlook, and love of marmalade sandwiches carry him through the sticky situations he finds himself in.
These are technically family movies, but they are genuinely so full of heart and whimsy and adventure that I believe anyone would enjoy them. The soundtrack is lovely, the script is funny, and the visuals are beautifully crafted. “Paddington” and “Paddington 2” will delight you and probably inspire a future trip to London, or at least a craving for marmalade sandwiches. Use this break to get caught up on the first two before the third movie, “Paddington in Peru,” comes out at the beginning of next year!

So, sit back and put on these wonderful movies to get you in a comfy cozy mood while you relax over break. Let them remind us to hold each other a little tighter and to appreciate the privileges of our education, families, friends, and homes.