Grade: A
It took me a while to notice, but it finally dawned on me that in recent years, movie trailers almost never have voice-over narration anymore. It’s often just text on the screen with footage from the film. No more “in a world” type stuff. Not only does The Holdovers look like it could have been made in the 1970s, the trailer is period-appropriate as well – something I picked up on when I started seeing it months ago. Director Alexander Payne immerses us into that world before we even buy a ticket to see the feature.
I’ve long been an admirer of Payne, whose credits include Election, About Schmidt, and Nebraska – the latter being one of my favorites of the decade. I wonder if there’s a director alive who films winter more beautifully. The Holdovers is a triumph of both atmosphere and substance, as was Nebraska. I can always appreciate good atmospheric filming. In this case, there’s gorgeous snowfall on the trees and landscape. The soundtrack features Badfinger, Cat Stevens, and The Allman Brothers Band – and the loveliest collection of holiday music you’ll hear, from choral arrangements to the usual Andy Williams and the like. And it also has the storytelling, craft, and chemistry to boot. When both those elements are there, all the merrier.
The Holdovers reunites Alexander Payne with his Sideways star Paul Giamatti. He plays Paul Hunman, a well-spoken curmudgeonly history teacher at a remote prep school in 1970. It’s perhaps the role that Richard Dreyfuss might have had 20-30 years ago. They say that an effective way to ward off people making fun of you is to get there first; beat ‘em to the punch. You can also eliminate elephants in the room this way. Giamatti’s lazy eye is acknowledged right off the bat (by the students calling him “walleye”), and is heavily referenced throughout. Professor Hunman has unlucked into the duty of being this year’s babysitter for the holdovers – the kids who have nowhere to go over Christmas break, so they have to stay on campus. They start off with a handful of holdovers, but most of their ships (or helicopters) come in, and they are free – which leaves Hunman, the school cafeteria manager Mary, and teenager Angus Tully as the last people standing.
No character is made with a cookie cutter. This isn’t a systematic Grinch or Scrooge-like redemption story. Everybody is the same person they were at the beginning. They just know each other better, and so do we. It’s delightful in the way it sidesteps so many cliches; none of the potential romances, that we may figure are inevitable, end up actually materializing. This movie will inspire much discussion, processing, and unpacking among moviegoers – as we are transported from one compelling episode to the next, all very rich with meaning. Dominic Sessa as Angus is an amazing find, and may unfortunately be an unsung hero in a film with flashier performances with more well-known stars. Think Miles Teller in Whiplash. In an already magnificent movie, Da’Vine Joy Randolph steals it as Mary, the old reliable kitchen employee, who is dealing with a grief of her own. And Giamatti, one of our most established character actors, seems to do his best work under Payne’s direction. I liked the way he dealt with being shushed at the movie theater. I came close to doing that with a noisy couple near me at the screening I attended, but hesitated, lest I get the same response. Like I said, beat ‘em to the punch and get there first.
Remember in Good Morning, Vietnam when Robin Williams told J.T. Walsh he was in more dire need of…something…than any white man in history? Giamatti gets an equally great line near the end, which I hope catches on as the next iconic mic-drop tell-off. It seems too easy for 1970s coming-of-age movies to come off as sloppy and shallow. When that happens, you get something like Outside Providence and The Tender Bar. When done well, it can be a glorious warm hug. The Holdovers is this year’s warm hug.
Grade: A
Film Reviews by Mark 
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