What makes The Holdovers such a joy to watch is the chemistry between Giamatti, Sessa, and Randolph.
When The Holdovers began, I immediately thought I was watching a movie from the 1970s. The film opens with an old-style studio logo and a ratings card featuring a design I recognized from many trips to the drive-in the 70s. Scratches, dust, and imperfections, including crackling sound, were also present. I thought, “Oh, they’re trying to make it look like a film from the 70s.” As the film wrapped up over two hours later, I realized that the ruse never stopped. Even though the movie was shot digitally, there was a subtle attempt to make it look like it was shot on film. The Holdovers‘ plot is the type of character-driven, coming-of-age story that we don’t see much of anymore from Hollywood. The aged and imperfect presentation makes the 1970s vibe that the movie gives off feel just right.
The plot centers around Barton Academy, a private prep school in Massachusetts. At the last minute, student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) finds out that his mother and new stepfather have decided to vacation without him over the two-week Christmas break. With nowhere to go, he is forced to holdover on campus along with other students who can’t return home for the holidays.
In charge of supervising the holdovers is Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti,) a surly ancient history teacher. Like Tully, Hunham’s holdover status comes as a surprise when the teacher previously assigned to watch the students invents an excuse to avoid the responsibility. The only other staff member on campus during the holiday break is the school’s head cook, Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph.) an African American woman who has recently lost her son to the Vietnam War.
All of the holdover students except Tully — who’s parents are unreachable — find a way to leave campus. This leaves the stranded Tully, Hunham, and Lamb to form an unlikely and unplanned familial bond over the holiday break.
To quote Hunham, “Life is like a hen-house ladder. Shitty and short.” Each of the three characters has been dealing with life’s curve balls as best they can on their own. Through each other, they learn that having someone to lean on to get through the tough times is much easier and, sometimes, necessary. Director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt), working from a script by David Hemingson, crafts a character study that examines subjects like class, race, grieving, entitlement, and identity through the eyes and experiences of Tully, Hunham, and Lamb.
What makes The Holdovers such a joy to watch is the chemistry between Giamatti, Sessa, and Randolph. Each begrudgingly begins to accept the other two’s shortcomings through understanding and acceptance. While this type of subject matter is far from fresh or new, the interactions between the characters feel entirely believable. The writing and the performances complement each other exquisitely. The script offers up a number of surprises both humorous and emotional.
As much as I’d like to give examples, discovering the eccentricities of the characters and seeing how they play off one another is what makes The Holdovers a treat. In some ways, it might be predictable but I didn’t expect it to be the movie I’ve been waiting for all year. If Giamatti, Sessa, and Randolph’s names aren’t mentioned as nominees during the upcoming award season, I’ll be both surprised and disappointed.
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
