#5: The Holdovers
Release Date: October 27th, 2023
Format: Theater (AMC Rolling Hills 20 in Torrance, CA)
Written by: David Hemingson
Directed by: Alexander Payne
4 Stars
The Holdovers is a perfect marriage between writer (David Hemingson, in his feature film writing debut) and director, Alexander Payne, who is tailor-made for this material. Payne gets to deal with the pathos of loss, aging, regret, fear, and a final brave act of redemption, motifs he’s explored in his most affecting films, such as About Schmidt, Sideways, and Nebraska.
The plot is set during the Christmas season, 1970, and involves Paul Hunham, an ornery Classics teacher at Barton Academy Boarding School, who is tasked with monitoring Angus Tully, an intelligent but occasionally defiant student who is not traveling home for the holiday break. Joining this odd couple is Mary, a cafeteria worker, who has decided to work over the holidays in an attempt to take her mind off the loss of her son, who was recently killed in Vietnam.
Seemingly disparate, these characters find each others’ shared humanity and goodness.
This is a movie that speaks deeply and fluently. As an auteur, Payne has always seemed most comfortable in comedic dramas about older men who are confronted with the stark reality of their life, what it is versus what they imagine it to be, and finding a way to make peace with that disparity.
Yes, the Hemingson script fits Payne’s sensibilities, but it also gives Paul Giamatti one of the best roles of his career. It’s my favorite Giamatti performance (my previous being Miles in Payne’s Sideways). Mr. Hunham is equal parts critical, sensitive, and caring (although he probably wouldn’t admit to those last two). He wants his student Angus to live up to his potential, a potential that Hunham never achieved for himself. This isn’t to say that Hunham isn’t an asshole. He is. But in the opening scene you find yourself laughing with Hunham, not at him, as he caustically grades his students’ papers in his tiny apartment. He’s pathetic, and you love him. It’s a perfect merging of actor and performance and character.
Playing Angus Tully and Mary are Dominic Sessa and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, respectively. I’m not sure how two relatively new performers can meet a director and actor at their artistic peaks, but they do. I can’t say that their characters affected me any less than Giamatti’s. The two actors give tender, wonderful performances.
I’m confident that The Holdovers will soon be considered a holiday classic, this story of three people, each dealing with loss, who have every reason to think they have nothing else to give, yet sacrifice a bit more for each other in the name of love and the Christmas spirit.
