The Holdovers
Alexander Payne proves there are better places to find a Christmas movie than The Hallmark Channel
Dominic Sessa and Paul Giamatti are stuck together in Alexander Payne's sharp drama The Holdovers.
Nothing says Christmas like study hall in a frigid library. Yet that’s the Christmas that a handful of students of Barton Academy have to look forward to. These young men are the holdovers — students who have been left at school during the winter break by parents who are either unable or unwilling to collect them. They spend their days haunting the vacant halls of the Academy, going on snowy marches through the empty grounds, and eating meals in sullen silence.
Ho Ho Ho.
Their guardian for this time is just as miserable as the kids. Ancient Civilizations professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) wasn’t supposed to be in charge of this collection of misfits, but after insisting on failing the son of a senator (and one of the Academy’s biggest donors) he’s been assigned to this study hall of the damned.
It doesn’t help that his reputation among the students is as shoddy as his reputation with his peers. Haughty and pedantic to a fault, Paul demands excellence from his students and delights when they fail to meet his standards. He views his students as elite idiots — coddled by wealthy parents and unfamiliar with consequences — never mind that Paul himself was once a Barton student.
It seems their mutual suffering will end when one of the boys’ fathers decides to save the day. He lands a helicopter on the lawn of the school, offering to take his son and the remaining boys skiing.
It’s a Christmas miracle, almost.
One boy, Angus (Dominic Sessa), Paul’s brightest and most caustic student must remain at Barton. His parents can’t be bothered to answer their phone, so Angus and Paul must remain at the school. Their only company is Mary (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), the head of the cafeteria who is grieving the death of her son, killed in action in Vietnam.
Can this trio manage to eek some holiday cheer out of their situation?
It’s understandable that The Holdovers has been frequently compared to the works of Hal Ashby (the director behind Harold and Maude). It’s clear that director Alexander Payne has a very specific 70s style in mind. Everything from the credits to the film grain overlaid on the digital footage screams “retro”. The color palette is assorted drab browns. Payne wants you to think of the time when drinking and driving was considered a skill, smoking indoors was the norm, and the sideburns were…unfortunate. The whole film is a tribute to the mentality and aesthetics of Ashby and other 70s films that celebrate the immaculate drama of small lives.
While the film deals with some heavy topics and ultimately has the beats of a holiday film, Payne wisely steers clear of too much sentimentality. In fact, one of the few scenes that doesn’t ring true is when Payne dips into emotional indulgence. For the most part, The Holdovers is a wryly observed character piece looking at the lives of three people marooned together over a holiday season. Writer David Hemingson keeps the movie from becoming too morose by sprinkling in plenty of humor. And cinematographer Eigil Bryld evokes the blue-white bleakness of a New England winter in every frame. This movie isn’t the Christmas card image you’d expect of a holiday film, it’s the slushy puddle you step in as you collect the mail.
But the real bright spots of the film are the performances. As the anchor of the film Giamatti is at his acerbic best. Though he’s playing a man with strabismus (cruelly nicknamed Wall-eye by the students) who also smells of fish due to another medical condition, Giamatti never goes too broad with his performance. Paul is a curmudgeon who uses his considerable antiquities knowledge as a shield to hide his social anxieties. He won’t allow for tenderness unless talking to Mary, who he seems to see as a fellow hostage among the elites. Whenever he tries to reach out and make a connection, he seems almost boyish in his uncertainty. Truly, he’s the ghost of Christmas Past in this Dickensian holiday tale, literally trapped in his former school and seemingly unable to go anywhere else.
As the Ghost of Christmas Present, we have Mary, who is reeling from the loss of her son. She took the thankless job of working at the Barton cafeteria to provide her son with a world-class education. But that didn’t save him from their economic circumstances and the draft. Now she is surrounded by boys who will never know the grim realities of Vietnam and who she must serve with a smile. Da'Vine Joy Randolph finds the perfect balance between the raw grief of Mary’s journey and her kindness, both to Paul and Angus, who she can see are in dire need of it.
Finally, we have the Ghost of Christmas Future, Angus, who is one more strike away from expulsion and military school (which means Vietnam). He’s a whip-smart kid who’s decided to make his troubles at home everyone else’s problem. Angus is so mired in rage and angst he can’t seem to see that he’s got opportunities ahead of him. Still, of the trio, Angus seems to be the one with the brightest prospects ahead of him — if he’d just get out of his own way. Sessa is stunning in his screen debut, a natural in front of the camera, and thrilling to watch. He effortlessly conveys Angus’ coltish awkwardness and cleverness. It’s a wonderful introduction to Sessa as a performer, and hopefully indicative of his future on film.
The only minor flaw of The Holdovers is that it doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone. The film seems to end three separate times, and each progressive ending becomes a little less satisfying. It’s a shame because Payne is so careful to avoid the traps of saccharine holiday films until the literal last scene. Still, if you appreciate solid character stories and impressive acting, The Holdovers is the Christmas present you’ve been waiting for. Don’t wait until December; unwrap it now.
Verdict: The Holdovers is a sharp throwback to the best of 70s filmmaking and deserves to be seen.
The Holdovers is rated R and available in theaters November 10.
