It’s tempting to call director Alexander Payne’s latest a kind of Dead Poets Society for grownups. Not that Peter Weir’s film was childish. But Payne’s is definitely more adult, both in its sensibility and its focus. There is the obvious similarity of setting and aesthetic: a private school for boys in New England, filmed with aching loveliness and care. (Payne’s image is less swoony and saturated, and there’s more grit and grime on display — see above.) It’s the ’70s; the American innocence of DPS’s ‘50s has been seen to by the war in Vietnam, which has claimed the life of Curtis, the ambitious son of school cook Mary Lamb. And there is the similarity of dynamic: the story concerns the relationship between a teacher who loves the classical tradition — Robin Williams’ John Keating had Horace and his rallying cry of Carpe diem, Paul Giamatti’s Paul Hunham has Marcus Aurelius and his stoic love of virtue despite the circumstances — and a student with a strained familial situation. But Dominic Sessa’s Angus doesn’t want to chase his dreams and act, he just wants to go home for Christmas — and maybe avoid getting booted into military school. Both teacher and student are sour, sullen, surly, sarcastic, and smart in a way that wins them few admirers — and with reason. The two wind up trapped together for the holidays, and it’s a testament to both actors that the thaw between them happens so gradually that it’s hard to notice until it’s obvious. (Giamatti has a ball here as a glass-eyed grump, but he’s a known quantity. The lupine Sessa is the revelation; it’s a gutsy move putting him in a movie theater scene watching Dustin Hoffman, but it’s no accident.) And while DPS’ Keating had to learn the price of his principles, Hunham’s work has more to do with finding the limits of their value. Payne is happy to amble; there are points where you may feel the 2 hour, 13 minute runtime. But he’s always going somewhere, and the destination is thoroughly worthwhile. (2023) — Matthew Lickona