The Holdovers
When Alexander Payne is firing on all cylinders, I think it’s when he’s challenging his characters on an interpersonal basis, often within closed quarters. When you think of “The Descendants,” it’s the moments when George Clooney and his kids are struggling on the road trip through Hawaii. In “Election,” it’s when Tracy Flick and Jim McAllister are in a battle of wills at the school. In “Citizen Ruth,” it’s when Ruth is trapped in a house with pro-choice advocates, surrounded by pro-life zealots, and she’s being pushed in both directions through manipulation. “The Holdovers” has Payne working in a more melancholy mood, as a professor, a disruptive student and a grieving cook at a New England prep school. I don’t know if I’d rate it among Payne’s best films- which includes his last collaboration with Paul Giamatti, “Sideways”- but it does feel like Payne has something new to say about student-teacher relationships, and empathizing with others, and that’s always welcome.
Paul Hunham, Giamatti’s character, is someone who prefers to be alone, reading books and dreaming of going to places like Greece and Italy and studying the history of those ancient lands. He is a history teacher at a prep school, and he has been roped into serving as the designated faculty member to stay at school, and watch over the students who- for one reason or another- do not have a place to go over the Christmas break. In truth, the teacher who was supposed to cover this Christmas feigned illness with his wife, but Hunham not allowing an alumnus’s child skate by with mediocre work didn’t help things, either. As an instructor, Hunham is a bit of a bastard, but it’s mainly because he doesn’t want to see any of his students- most of whom are privileged kids with their futures bought for them- just coast by life. (That’s not to say he feels a need to push them to be better; it’s his way of rebelling against the system.) But, he is left to look after five students- one of whom, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), was a late addition when his mother and her new husband decide to go on their honeymoon- and is only joined by one of the kitchen heads, Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), whose son recently died in Vietnam.
“The Holdovers” kicks into gear when three of the students get permission to go with one of the other ones when their father unexpectedly comes to pick him up. That leaves Hunham, Mary and Angus, and it is where David Hemingson’s screenplay comes into focus. The strength of this film isn’t necessarily an overarching theme it’s approaching, but the connection these three, wildly different individuals make when faced with their respective humanity. Hunham is not going to become the parent Angus is missing, but he will become a teacher who understands the importance of being there for their students when he needs to be. Angus is still someone who will probably buck authority until he becomes an adult (before the break, in Hunham’s class, he tries to find a compromise with Hunham about a test the class failed), but his time with Hunham and Mary is important in his growth as he learns to respect others. Mary is a woman who’s grieving, and whom wants to make Hunham and Angus feel like they have a home during this lonely holiday; she’s trying to hold on to that motherly feeling she lost when her son died. Their interactions make the movie.
Paul Giamatti is a character actor who has flourished when given the right role as a lead. This is one of those “right roles,” and he is wonderful as a teacher who reluctantly does the job he’s been asked to do, and when afforded for opportunities to do more over this holiday break, does it, sometimes because it’s necessary, but sometimes because he seems to genuinely care about the feelings of the others he’s at the school with. As Mary, Randolph is the heart of this trio; both Hunham and Angus find her as a good sounding board when they need to talk, and the class roles they all come in with fade away- one feels like these three will have a connection for the rest of their lives. As Angus, this is Sessa’s first film, and he absolutely crushes the arrogance, and desperation, of the role of this student who feels adrift personally, and ultimately needs to have a meaningful connection with another person. To his surprise- but not ours, because that’s the basic shape of this film- he finds it in these unlikely people.
Payne does a phenomenal job in creating “The Holdovers” to not just feel like it was set in the early ’70s, but feeling like it could have been released then, as well. The screenplay does not have a lot of modern touches that would have felt anachronistic to the time, and the performances feel very natural and genuine. Yes, there’s the way he does the title cards, but Mark Orton’s score (and the soundtrack, in general) gives it more of a sense of time and place of release than that. The film is a bit on the long side for the type of movie it is (I started to feel its 133 minutes), but it’s a warm and engaging winner from Payne, who continues to show us the importance of connection, and meeting people where they are in life, even if they don’t feel like someone we’d come to know on our own.
