The Holdovers Review
8/10
People often look down on a film that meets expectations without subverting them. Not every film has to be a groundbreaking, genre-defining masterpiece. There is a genuine joy I get from comfort food films. That may sound like a patronizing description, but it is a difficult style of storytelling to pull off without coming across as trivial. Some may criticize films like that for not being different enough from what has come before, but when you eat a fantastic meal you’ve ordered before at a restaurant, do you complain when it tastes exactly as excellent as you were anticipating?
The Holdovers is the kind of film I gravitate toward, the slice-of-life character-focused story. Alexander Payne is one of the best at showcasing the minute details of everyday people - with the exception of his previous film Downsizing. That is still one of the most baffling misfires I’ve ever seen from a modern filmmaker. Perhaps he wanted to branch out and do something to subvert the audience’s expectations. Well, it certainly did that, just in the worst possible way. I was happy to see him return to film with this melancholy tale. If you aren’t already invested in Payne’s storytelling style, then Holdovers likely won’t hook you.
I have enjoyed all his non-Downsizing films immensely, so I was engrossed from the start. It stars the always magnificent Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, an aging, curmudgeonly teacher working at a boarding school in the early 70s. He is being forced to oversee a small group of students staying at the school over Christmas vacation. These kids are unable to see their families and wander the halls like lost souls. Paul is being punished by the headmaster after failing a student whose father is a well-known politician who puts money into the school. Paul is disliked by most, but he has strict morals about providing a strong education for these kids to lay the foundations for their development.
I love it when characters are trapped in a particular setting. The prep school is grandiose and imposing, yet it becomes a dominating character throughout the film. Its empty halls invoke the frigid stillness of Kubrick’s The Shining. There is an eerie chill to a previously bustling building now devoid of life. The school here is not far from a creepy haunted mansion where most of the kids and teachers have left. Paul has spent most of his life here. He attended the school as a boy and rarely leaves its confines. He is distant from the other teachers and harsh with his students whom he views as entitled rich kids who have never had to deal with real pain and struggle.
Keep in mind this is during the Vietnam War when kids their age were dying overseas rather than being kept safe and pampered within the safe walls of a prep school. Da'Vine Joy Randolph plays Mary Lamb, the school’s cook who is also staying in the building over the holidays. Her son was recently killed in Vietnam and she isn’t ready to see her family yet. Randolph’s character could have just been the sassy stereotype providing comic relief like we have seen overdone before, but she is the heart of the film. Mary forms a connection with Paul that is achingly melancholy. Randolph’s performance was my favorite in the film.
She also bonds with one of the stray boys, Angus Tully, played by Dominic Sessa. Mary even calls Paul out when he goes off on another rant about how these kids have never dealt with real-life issues. She quite rightly reminds him that he doesn’t know that. It’s easy to judge someone by surface-level details without understanding what they deal with internally. Angus ends up becoming the only boy left at school for the holidays. Originally, Angus was going on a trip with his mother and stepdad. This joyous occasion was ripped away from him when his mother decided she wanted to savor the trip with her new husband instead of sharing it with her son. Angus is not socially awkward enough to be an outcast, but not cool enough to be popular. He is one of those kids who just falls through the cracks, not fitting in enough to be labeled. Sessa gives a wonderful performance that gradually gives hints that Angus is a wounded soul.
This is not a film with gigantic dramatic arcs, it is a gentle story about three people forming a connection during one of the loneliest times of the year. Christmas is usually portrayed as a joyous occasion for those with loved ones to see. I look forward to the holidays every year and have countless fond memories spent with family and friends. For a lot of people though, this is an arduous time full of anxiety and depression. Imagine having nobody to spend the days with and being constantly pressured by every facet of society to be upbeat and jolly. Side note, Paul Giamatti would make a wonderful Scrooge.
Most of the story beats in Holdovers are familiar and unsurprising, with one exception that I won’t spoil the details of. This is Payne at his best, delving into the souls of wistful people trying to find meaning in their aimless endeavors. He has a knack for capturing the feel of films from the 70s. Even his previous work that isn’t set in that era reminds me of filmmakers like Hal Ashby and Robert Altman. The Holdovers is a cozy film with a somber center. Paul is clearly not a happy man, and he smothers these feelings with booze and intellectualism. Giamatti is one of the best at portraying malcontent grumblers. He is the personification of neurosis. He gives his characters a sincerity and heart that never feels artificial. Paul is not an easy man to like, yet despite his eccentric and off-putting nature, we see the sadness within.
The scenes of these three characters together are the strongest parts of the film. The way they grow closer and slowly begin to understand each other is heartwarming. In the case of Mary, the tragedy she lived through when her son died in Vietnam haunts her. The school insulates these students from the realities and hardships that America is going through during this time. Mary is looked down upon by the kids since she isn’t in their comfortable bubble. Her son did attend the school briefly, but she is still mostly known as the school chef rather than a person with hopes and feelings. The film is clever in how it only hints at the changing landscape of America outside the school walls with images like Martin Luther King Jr’s face on the wall of her son’s bedroom.
The Holdovers is a fantastic reminder that Payne is still a master at slice-of-life stories. It may be overly familiar to some and, yes, it does have more than a few tropes I have seen in other indie films before. But when it is done so well as it is here, then I really don’t see that as a major issue.
