52 Films by Women Vol 10. 35. HOLY DAYS (Director: Nat Boltt)

 

Pictured: Sisters Agnes (Judy Davis), Luke (Miriam Margolyes) and Mary Clare (Jacki Weaver) take a road trip with young Brian (Elijah Tamati) in order to recover the deeds to their convent in writer-director Nat Boltt's New Zealand-set family-friendly comedy drama, 'Holy Days', adapted from the 2013 novel by children's author, Joy Cowley. Still courtesy of Lightbulb Film Distribution (UK)

Holy Days, the directorial debut of South African-born Nat Boltt, is the kind of road movie we’ve seen a bajillion times before. You take a group of characters with no aptitude for travel, much less with each other, put them in a car on a mission with a deadline and see what happens. Boltt is better known by her full first name, Nathalie, credited as such in seven seasons of Riverdale. Her film, set in New Zealand in 1974, is based on a 2013 novel by children’s author Joy Cowley, whose work Boltt had adapted before (the 2012 short film, The Silk, which she co-directed). Boltt has assembled perhaps the oddest, least box office cast one might imagine, veterans Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes and Jacki Weaver, though the latter is probably best known to modern audiences from the break-out crime drama, Animal Kingdom, in which she played a fierce matriarch, and Silver Linings Playbook as the mother of Pat (Bradley Cooper), a man who throws books out of windows after reading them. Neither Margolyes nor Davis has had a leading role in a film for some years. Both are known for being unfiltered in their way, or, if you prefer, contrary.

The trio play three Sisters of the Catholic rather than the Chekhovian variety who have in their time helped raise the district’s orphans – they have a wall covered with photographs of those who have graduated from their care. Their convent, St. Suzanne’s, a large house in need of attention, has been sold to developers by the local diocese. Sisters Agnes (Davis), Luke (Margolyes) and Mary Clare (Weaver) need to recover the deeds to the building from a former colleague, Patricia (Tanea Heke) who lives on the South Island near the mountain. The trio are accompanied by twelve-year-old Brian (Elijah Tamati), a part-Māori boy whose mum has recently passed and whose white father, Joe (Craig Hall) is about to remarry. Brian is keen to see the mountain that features in a snow globe that is a family keepsake. Frequently visiting the convent to confess his sins – though he has to collect them first – he refuses to accept Liz (Boltt), her father’s bride-to-be, as a substitute mother – he cycles away with her wedding dress which gets caught in the wheels of his bike, in turn slowing him down. Borrowing a car belonging to a middle-aged priest, Father Findlay (Jonny Brugh), the quartet set off to the ferry, impeded by Agnes’ diminished vision, Luke’s dementia and Mary Clare’s timidity.

If you’ve watched Sister Luke’s denture plate falling out of her mouth one time, well, the occurrence is repeated. This film goes for the belly laugh and, I must report, gives it a wide berth. The Sisters main motivation is to continue to care for Luke as her lucidity fluctuates. Margolyes gives a credible performance of a woman who forgets herself, notably in one scene when the quartet end up on a beach; Luke partially undresses and heads for the sea. Boltt pitched the film as a Little Miss Sunshine-type road movie, but the nuns are short of a backstory or three. In a regular road movie, the protagonists’ shortcomings become a source of comedy. Here, it is a set of behavioural tics; there isn’t much to watch. In so far as there is an engine, it is the contrast between the Sisters’ motives and Brian’s. When they arrive on the South Island, Brian leaves Patricia’s house and heads for the mountain.

Pictured: 'Jesus, don't surf. I don't think you should.' Sisters Mary Clare (Jacki Weaver), Luke (Miriam Margolyes) and Agnes (Judy Davis) in a scene from the New Zealand-set family-friendly road movie, 'Holy Days', adapted from Joy Cowley's 2013 novel by writer-director Nat Boltt. Still courtesy of Lightbulb Film Distribution (UK)

Tricked out with animated interludes reminiscent of Hanna Sköld’s Granny’s Dancing On The Table, though of a car trundling down a papier mâché set rather than of violent interludes, the film is ultimately about coming to terms with the loss of a loved one, with Brian wading through the snow, collapsing and being visited - as far as he is concerned - by his mother’s spirit. Cowley has dedicated herself to stories that affirm children and make them laugh – a ‘rigid child’ won’t develop a taste for reading – and Holy Days though aimed at older readers than ‘Mrs. Wishy Washy’, Cowley’s most well-known book, fits the bill. However, Holy Days hasn’t been marketed to appeal to a family audience. Instead, it primarily attracts older viewers, like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (minus the exoticism) or Book Club (minus literature).

The film offers minor pleasures rather than major set pieces. Mary Clare re-discovers her driving prowess and takes over from thirty-mile-an-hour Agnes to overtake a van full of hippies making obscene gestures; Mary Clare was schooled on tractors. Agnes performs a coup de grace, striding up to a traffic cop, telling him, ‘I have two words for you, ‘Merry Christmas’,’ while inserting some cash in his top pocket. For his part, the policeman asks a colleague to ensure the ferry doesn’t leave before the nuns arrive. Brian has his moment, cashing in a betting slip that was left in the glove compartment of Findlay’s car. He hands Agnes some change, before telling her, ‘they said we could keep the bag’, passing on a sack of bank notes. As the car speeds through the New Zealand landscape, I seriously worried about the money flying out of the partially open window. The car has its moment, running out of petrol on top of a hill. Wearing two pairs of glasses, Agnes coasts it to a petrol station, showering the attendant with bank notes after filling the tank.

There are some emotional moments too, notably Patricia greeting Brian as her nephew and Brian reconciling with Liz, under whose pillow he left a hate-filled message, which he later regrets – a sin he could atone for without spiritual guidance. The Sisters visit a convent run by one of their former colleagues only to discover it shuttered. For Brian, however, it is a source of pears; he shares them in the car. The film resolves Luke’s fate, though the comedic tone of Margolyes’ performance led me to expect she would let out a fart at any moment.

‘You have to prove your residence at the convent. By coming here, you’ve done the worst thing,’ Patricia tells Agnes. There has been an addendum to the lease signed by Findlay. ‘You’d better undo that addendum otherwise you too will have no place to live,’ Agnes tells him over the phone. There is a running joke in which Luke cuts phone wires, first in the convent, then in a hotel room along the way. Fortunately, Patricia’s phone is spared. On the road, Boltt frequently cuts to a bobbling model Jesus on the dashboard, Father Findlay’s one concession to religion.

Some aggressive re-marketing of this New Zealand-Canada co-production as family entertainment might just attract more viewers and even re-invigorate New Zealand as a tourist destination. It made me wonder why Davis’ five-decade film career faltered after lead roles in My Brilliant Career, A Passage To India and Impromptu. Certainly, she gave Hollywood a wide berth. Here she has a moment that reminds the audience what she can bring to a scene. Rushing to pack a suitcase, Agnes opens a drawer. It is empty, save for a single box of cigarettes. Agnes pauses a beat before swiftly grabbing the pack, taking a cigarette and lighting it. Davis’ comic timing remains electric.

Reviewed at Screen Nine, Cineworld Ashford, Kent, Southern England, Friday 14 August 2026, 16:45 screening