New England

The Holdovers, an ode to Stoicism.

/ antonioyrocinante / 2 Comments

One of the many blessings of Film Club, beyond the fellowship and deep discussions, is that every few months you watch a jewel of a film. This month’s theme was Boarding Schools, and the repertoire was: Louis Malle’s Au Revoir les Enfants (1987), Netflix’s version of Matilda (2022)(ok, not a boarding school, but it might as well be), Robin Williams’ classic Dead Poets Society (1989) and a film I had never heard of: The Holdovers (2023).

There are many factors that make The Holdovers a fantastic film -at least for me: it is filmed in two main locations I know and love well, New England boarding schools, and Boston, my beloved old Bostonia, Paul Giamatti, wonderful photography, and an insightful narrative.

As I mentioned the film starts in a New England boarding school (it was filmed in half a dozen of them, including a scene in Waltham, home of my alma mater Bentley College), so we have the whole school as the cast. Christmas break arrives and the cast is narrowed to five students who are stuck in school over break with a teacher (Giamatti) and the cook. The dad of one of these holdovers, the CEO of a helicopter manufacturer will eventually pick up his son and the rest of the boys -except one, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) to take them skiing. The brunt of the story is then the three holdovers: the student, history teacher Mr. Hunham, and the cook, Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

Yes, the film touches on the inequalities of the “legacy students” -children of wealthy alumni, family dynamics, class inequalities, etc. But those are accessory to the plot.

What could these three different people have in common? You might ask. Well, what we all have in common: our brokenness. And this is where the film shines. The big clue comes when Hunham, gives his two Christmas companions copies of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations “For my money, it’s like the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita all rolled up into one.” At the end of the film, we will see a box full of the books, Hunham’s go to present, apparently.

Stoicism is less a philosophy and more of a way of life: understanding what is under our control, and if it is beyond our control, there is not much we can do about it but accept it. (I recently wrote about this here). Of course, it is difficult for us to become full, real stoics, it is a lifetime process. Our three protagonists -eventually only the two men in their “field trip” to Boston, struggle with their issues. Despite the obvious age difference, we see these two men are basically the same, a mirror image in their brokenness.

As any good film does, The Holdovers makes the viewer consider their lives and how to deal with their issues, and at the same time enjoy a wonderful cast, beautiful photography, great early seventies music and Paul Giamatti.

Enjoy the 70s style trailer:

70s style trailer is classic!

Bentley College (now University)

/ antonioyrocinante / 5 Comments

This blog was born with the start of my search for a PhD program, so that process and the subsequent studies were very well documented here. Eventually, a few months ago I wrote about my master’s experience at Simmons, but I have never written about my bachelor’s degree.

I was living in London when I had to choose university. I really wanted a small liberal arts school in New England to study Business (at the time I did not appreciate that liberal arts and business do not mix that well. That was a mistake, which I can write about in a later post). My final choice was Bentley College (now University), just outside Boston, and what an experience it was!

Bentley was the perfect space for me to bloom. I loved my management courses (not so much my accounting, finance, number courses in general) and I really developed my leadership skills, becoming President of the International Club, International Representative to the Student Government, and finally Student Government Representative to the Board of Trustees, where I met Jere Dykema, my first mentor. I also grew into my art appreciation, spending Saturdays at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and what little pocket money I had on Season Tickets to the Boston Ballet, DJing the Classical Music Program at the College radio station WBTY “Sunday Night at the Pops”, writing a weekly column in the Vanguard newspaper, playing soccer with the International Club, establishing the Model United Nations program, debating the Oxford Union, and generally just walking around, taking in the history, architecture, and vibe of all the different Boston neighborhoods.

But the most important part of my university days was the connections and friends I made. Most of my best friends to this day I met in college –you know who you are. I also made great relationships with professors, like Aaron Nurick who would become a mentor, and with administrators like the great Bob Minetti.

In conclusion, yes university is about education and learning, but more importantly, at least in my case, was to grow as a person and to make lifelong friends.

New England (the region) and Manchester by the Sea (the film)

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Yes, I know it was released in 2016. So I am a little late on my movie viewing, OK? I recently watched Manchester by the Sea and loved it. It is a deeply human story set on the North Shore of Boston, in winter, an area I know and adore.

I first fell in love with New England when I moved to Boston for college in 1983. I fell in love with the Fall, with Boston, with the picture-perfect towns all around, with Walden Pond and Cape Cod, the Berkshires, New Hampshire’s White Mountains, lobster rolls, clam chowder, Dunkin Donuts, pretty much everything. After college I got the opportunity to work in Boston for a couple of years. I lived in a tiny apartment in the Back Bay and worked on the waterfront in the financial district. It was then that I really had a chance to further explore and discover. With a group of friends, the infamous Boston Gourmet Society, we would spend Summer weekends at the beach in Maine, and Winters skiing in Sugarloaf, renting a ski chalet for the season.

In 2005 I went back, and with added maturity, I really got to appreciate New England. We lived in Newburyport and Milton. Then I moved back to old Back Bay in Boston, I worked in those places and then Natick, and Cambridge and enjoyed it thoroughly. Loved the history, the food, the culture, yes, even the people!

My work during my first stay in Boston was in the financial sector, but on the second round, as a teacher and coach I got to visit schools for soccer, tennis, and fencing all over the Boston area, including Concord, Newport Rhode Island and Exeter New Hampshire! It was beautiful to see the seasons and the foliage, the towns, the forests, and the seashore.

The film Manchester by the Sea takes place during the bleak New England Winter, where everything is frozen, even the ground! Casey Affleck (not the sexy one, the one that can act) nails his performance. It is a tough, emotional film but I highly recommend it. For me it was a double whammy. As an emotional person, I really connected with the plot, and the photography of New England, specially of the North Shore, really drove home the film for me.

So, there you have it, two recommendations in one blog post: New England (the region) and Manchester by the Sea (the beautiful town AND the film). Enjoy.