The Holdovers, Alexander Payne’s first film since receiving the only lukewarm critical response of his career with Downsizing, is an excellent return to form. The film’s producer Mark Johnson, has stated that he and Payne wanted to create a character-driven film in the vein of the great films Hal Ashby (Being There, Shampoo, The Last Detail, Harold & Maude) made in the ‘70s. They have succeeded with aplomb.
Reteaming with a pitch-perfect Paul Giamatti for the first time since 2004’s Sideways, The Holdovers is largely about a curmudgeonly Boston prep school teacher (Giamatti, naturally) and a student (Dominic Sessa in a great acting debut) who gets stuck at the school over the holidays when his recently remarried mother decides to take her honeymoon during Christmas break.
While the film is largely about these two lonely souls who bond over a two week period, the heart of the film is the school’s in-house cook played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, in her best role since she broke through with Dolemite is my Name. As Mary Lamb, she is even lonelier than Giamatti’s underachieving instructor Paul Hunham and Sessa’s swept aside Angus. Her son was the rare black student at the school, and his death in Vietnam (the film doesn’t just tip its hat to ‘70s films, it takes place in 1970), is a wound that will clearly never heal. And while Mary is clearly grieving for the entirety of the film, she does so quietly. There is no big breakdown, no “go for the Oscar” moment (although I have a feeling she will be on all the prognosticator’s shortlists). But even when Mary is being paternal towards Angus and having a laugh with Hunnam, her pain is always visible. This is a very tired woman who is making and serving food to rich white kids who complain about the quality of her dishes, but she simply keeps on doing her job, never outwardly lamenting her own tragedy.
Turning to Giamatti, if you really like Giamatti, well, this is prime Giamatti. Now nearing 60, rumpled and balding, it is beyond a treat to see Giamatti get to carry a film on his very sturdy shoulders. All the stuff you love about him is here: his impatience with fools, his sharp-tongued wit, and his occasional righteous outburst all play perfectly within Payne’s screenplay. At the same time, as uproariously funny as Giamatti often is, it should come as no surprise to see all the subtle grace notes he throws in. The way Hunnam deflects talking about his own loneliness while revealing it at the same time. Or even just how Giamatti shows the casual nature of Hunnam’s alcoholism. He sneaks his drinks as one did back then. Not wanting to get caught, but also aware that if he did, most would look the other way. It was a different time as one might say, and Giamatti and Payne have captured that time perfectly.
As for Sessa, it’s hard to overstate how remarkable his performance is, especially when you consider he had never been filmed before for anything. He was just a young man taking an acting class at school who auditioned for the role and made the filmmakers believe. And to be clear, this isn’t a simple performance. Sessa’s Tully is petulant, irritable, and not a guy who makes friends easily. At the same time, you can see that this young man on the cusp of adulthood stands well out from all the mediocrity that surrounds him. To call his fellow students “callow” would be to traffic in understatement, and when you see Hunnam recognize Angus’s potential, and then stand up to his mother and stepfather on his behalf, you understand why. Angus could be special, and while Hunnam may have wasted much of his life toiling away in semi-obscurity and never achieving his full capacity, he can’t stand the thought of Angus having his chance stripped away from him.
This is heady, character-driven filmmaking, and while The Holdovers has done very well with critics, and is likely to be in just about every awards conversation, I’m deeply curious to see how well-viewed the film will be. There are no capes, no super powers, no explosions, just human beings gingerly interacting with each other and attempting to cope with their lot in life. This is not the stuff of blockbusters and tentpoles, but it sure is refreshing to find that this kind of film can still be made and be given a chance in a marketplace where your cineplex may have 16 screens, but 12 of them are likely taken up by three movies.
The Holdovers is a deceptively simple movie with three beautifully drawn characters, who find themselves adrift in each other’s company for a fortnight, who move forward to a bittersweet conclusion that is unusually gentle when taken into context with modern cinema. It’s a movie about how sometimes people come into your life for only a short span, but during that time, they make an impact well beyond the brevity of their visit.
The film is often very funny, but also surprisingly sentimental for a filmmaker like Payne, who often delivers comedy with sharp edges. Payne’s latest shows that nine films into a thirty-plus year career, he has new cards up his sleeve.
Perhaps the highest compliment I can give to The Holdovers is that I suspect Hal Ashby would have been proud to call the film one of his own.
Reel Reframe 