The Holdovers [dir. Alexander Payne, 2023]
An emotional roller-coaster as only Alex Payne can deliver
When people ask me what I look for in a movie, what I need to consider something “good” or “worth watching”, I often say something along the lines of this: I want the movie I’m watching to make me feel something, anything, emotionally and, in particular, something it intends me to feel. When the film makes me sad and even cry, I like that. Same when it makes me laugh at well-crafted gags or jokes. Everything in between is just as valid – disgust, confusion, paranoia, as long as the filmmakers intended the viewer to feel those ways then, at the most basic, I think they are good. Art should move us, and films are art.
I say all this because Alexander Payne’s long-overdue return to the big screen, The Holdovers, is an absolute triumph in this context. From start to finish, every frame of the film was designed to ellicit some form of emotion across the entire spectrum and never let up until the final credits rolled. I don’t mean to imply that it is simply just two hours of emotional manipulation (though there is an element of this and we’ll get around to it). The three main characters are so fully written, so expertly acted, so wonderfully shot and directed that it is very easy to forget that they are fictional – who’s to say that this isn’t just the true story of two disaffected and embittered men (one old and the other young) and a grieving mother trying to keep everything else in her life together when they were forced to spend a Christmas together back in 1970?
When we begin, both Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) and Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) are planning to leave Barton Academy for the two-week holiday break between semesters. They are ready to take some time off – Angus, in particular, has been promised a trip to Boston in addition to a vacation in St. Kitts. Mary (D’Vine Joy Randolph), on the other hand, has no escape – as she is in charge of the kitchen she will stay behind to help feed whatever kids are held over for the holiday, along with the teacher in charge of watching over them. She is also grieving the recent loss of her son in the Vietnam War. The school gives him a touching memorial, but it is immediately followed by the students all heading home to their parents and privilege. Only a sad few remain.
Unfortunately for our other two leads, Paul and Angus, this now includes them. Paul has been chosen to replace the original teacher charged with the holdovers’ care (who lied about why he couldn’t stay) because he’s pissed the headmaster off one too many times. Angus, on the other hand, is told by his mom that she and his new stepdad will be taking their delayed honeymoon instead of the promised family trip. To make matters worse, it seems both will be able to escape their personal hell when one of the holdovers convinces his dad to take everyone on a ski trip with their parents’ permission. But when Angus’ mom cannot be reached (probably sunbathing on the island her son was dreaming about) he cannot go, and so Paul must hang around as well. Both men are upset with the predicament, both are angry at those they believe responsible and feel the situation was entirely out of their control. Only one is right.
The core of the film is the relationship between these two men. Paul is a teacher, but he’s so bitter and arrogant that he would rather delight in failing students and making them miserable than actually teaching. Angus, on the other hand, is probably his best student in years. His attitude, though, makes him insufferable. He’s bounced from school to school and can’t seem to control himself enough to keep from getting kicked out, even though he knows one more mistake will send him to boarding school.
If this all sounds like a depressing tale of woe-begotten people you’re only half right. Yes, this is a film with low and upsetting moments, but it’s filled with so much joy and laughter. We laugh at the character’s eccentricities (Paul may have only read one book in his life, “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius). Dominic can’t help himself from thwarting authority, even if it leads to a surprise visit to the hospital. Even Mary, sad as she is, refuses to not find joy in everything else she can. For as many moments that brought tears to my eyes, there were even more that made me roll over (including maybe the greatest insult ever uttered on screen near the end).
When the three, inevitably, take an impromptu field trip to Boston it’s no surprise to us that this will be where everything both comes to a head as well as together. Mary visits her pregnant sister and lets go of her son’s baby clothes as a gift, privately vowing to keep looking forward as a result. Paul and Angus visit museums, watch movies, and learn enough about each other to better understand who they each really are. Paul isn’t some bitter old man who hates teaching, he’s someone who once had a bright future and let his circumstances dictate the course of his life for almost half a century. Angus isn’t a classic kid with an attitude, he’s angry about how his mom treated his father’s absence as an opportunity to restart her life rather than take care of her remaining family. In recognizing the sources of each other’s pain they form a friendship that will last for a few more days, at least.
All of this is aided by a bit of classic filmmaking manipulation, both obvious and not. The music playing throughout The Holdovers tells us exactly how to feel. In a fairly masterful opening, we hear a modern but period-appropriate acoustic guitar song, mournful and pointed, over shots of the New England winter in 1970. We eventually look into an upstairs window, but when we flip to the other side of it, now in Paul’s apartment, the music has shifted to something classical, though still mournful. The shift tells us exactly who Paul is – someone completely out of step with the world around him despite harboring the same cold resentment happening outside.
The less obvious but more egregious bit of emotional table-setting comes in how the movie is visually and aurally presented. The opening titles clue us in a little bit that this is going to be an homage to older movies, with the Miramax and Focus logos mocked up to look as if they were from the era the film takes place. Then we notice the sound design, which is a bit muffled just like movies from that time sound to us today when compared to something contemporary. And, lastly, as we watch the snow falling over Massachusetts it is clear that the image has been manipulated as well to have more grain to better match the period. This isn’t the first time a filmmaker has made choices like this, David Fincher’s Mank being the most recent major example, but it is something that can pull me out of the movie if done wrong.
Because The Holdovers was shot digitally it can occasionally hit an uncanny valley where it is obvious that the film was made today but digitally altered to look older and, unfortunately, can look like a parody rather than a pastiche. He is not as skilled as Fincher at understanding how to best manipulate digital photography (very few, if any, really are) and so too many of those moments happened before my eyes finally settled in. That said, his dedication to shooting only with angles and blocking that match other films of that time along with ‘70s-inspired editing techniques softened the rougher edges of this attempt, and by the end I found myself admiring more than I was annoyed. When the film does conclude and the credits begin rolling over a shot of a car driving away rather than immediately fading or cutting to black I felt comforted.
I want to close with praise of one actor in particular. Yes, Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph are excellent as they always are in any production they’re cast. But it is Dominic Sessa, the first-time actor from Cherry Hill, NJ who was given a chance to audition as a student at the school where the movie was filmed, who absolutely steals the show. Every line delivery is perfect, every facial expression is convincing. I knew going in that this was his first ever filmed performance and it still floored me when remembering that fact after every scene. I hope this isn’t the last time we see him on screen, I very much want to see what else he can bring to the table.
Through it all I found The Holdovers to be a rare gem, a movie that allowed me to feel every emotion possible while giving me a trio of characters I will live with for the rest of my life. If this review seems a bit slight it is only because I do not want to say too much – part of the joy is in discovering who these characters are as they reveal themselves on-screen. So many movies these days feel they have to make themselves big, showy events just to get noticed, and I appreciate this one for remaining exactly what it is – a ‘70s-inspired character-focused dramedy that endeavors to teach us something about ourselves through the follies of others. I think that alone should make it the event, and I plan to return to it every Christmas I can.