Josh Reviews The Holdovers

The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a professor at a New England boarding school called Barton Academy, in 1970.  Hunham doesn’t seem to have much enthusiasm for teaching, if he ever did; he’s fed up with the pampered, spoiled rich kids he sees in his classroom.  Because of his refusal to give a passing grade to the son of one of the school’s wealthy benefactors, Hunham is on the outs with the school’s new headmaster (one of his former students).  And so Hunham is stuck with the assignment of staying at the school over the Christmas break and looking after the handful of students, “the holdovers”, who have nowhere to go during the vacation.  The kids don’t want to be stuck there, and Hunham doesn’t want to be stuck there looking after them.  One of the kids is Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa).  Angus is very smart but has a lot of anger bubbling under the surface; he’s been kicked out of several boarding schools before Barton, and he knows that if he can’t make it at Barton his mother and new step-father are going to send him to a military academy.  The only other person at Barton during the break is Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the African-American head cook, whose son Marcus was recently killed in Vietnam.  As the days of the break at Barton slowly unfold, Hunham, Angus, and Mary gradually build an unlikely relationship…

The Holdovers is written by David Hemingston and directed by Alexander Payne.  (It’s a pleasure to see Mr. Payne reuniting Paul Giamatti, who starred in Mr. Payne’s 2004 film Sideways!)

I thought The Holdovers was terrific.  It’s a beautiful film, one whose story and characters have stuck in my head in the days since seeing it.  It’s sweet and sad, while also having plenty of moments of fun and good humor.  Those comedic beats are critical to keeping the film alive and engaging.  It’s a moving, nuanced story aimed at adults.

The film has a retro look and feel to it.  In addition to the 1970’s setting, the film’s opening credits (including the opening logo cards) are cleverly styled to resemble a 1970s film.  (I loved hearing the sound effects of the jumps and crackles of an old-style film moving through a projector!)  But the film also feels retro in its slow, casual pacing.  The film takes its time with its story.  This of course winds up being critical to the film’s effectiveness, because it doesn’t rush the character development.  We spend enough time with Professor Hunham and Angus and Mary, that we get to slowly see their sharp edges start to soften with one another.  This allows the characters, and the relationships that gradually build between them, to feel real.  This, in turn, is what makes the film so moving in the end.

Paul Giamatti has long-since demonstrated that there’s little he cannot do.  He is once again magnificent here as Professon Hunham.  He’s immediately 100% believable as this crusty, grumpy old professor.  I believe that he’s been toiling away at Barton for decades, slowly growing more entrenched in his own rigid opinions and growing dislike of the students and other faculty.  And yet, at the same time, Mr. Giamatti keeps Hunham so endearingly human!  We can see that he does want to connect with others; and yet he seems somehow not to know exactly how to do that.  As the film unfolds and Mr. Giamatti slowly allows Hunham’s walls to fall, I grew to love this cantankerous old koot.

I’ve loved Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s work on Only Murders in the Building (I keep wishing the show would use her more!!), and she is a revelation here as Mary.  What a gorgeous performance this is!  Ms. Randolph keeps her work subtle and low-key.  Even when Mary does have an emotional breakdown late in the film, there are no big, Oscar-bait histrionics to be found here.  Ms. Randolph is completely naturalistic and real.  I love Mary!!  We can see her sharp intelligence and salty wit, and one’s heart can’t help but break for her at all she’s been through.  What a wonderfully rich character, and what a beautiful performance.  (I loved Ms. Randolph’s work in 2019’s Dolemite is my Name — go see that Eddie Murphy film. if you haven’t — and it’s a thrill to see her given such a wonderful showcase here.)

Angus Tully is played by Dominic Sessa in what is apparently his first professional acting role.  (After seeing the film, I read about the wild story of how Mr. Sessa, a Deerfield Academy acting student, came to be cast in the film!  Very cool!)  Mr. Sessa is terrific!  He holds the screen effortlessly… and that includes holding his own with the two powerhouses of Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, with whom he shares most of his scenes.  I’m impressed!  I hope this young man has a long career ahead of him.

I appreciated the film’s leisurely pace and the way Mr. Payne allowed us to marinate along with these characters.  I was intrigued to see the film’s repeated use of scenes in which we can see the actors’ mouths moving but we don’t hear their dialogue; instead, the sequences become old-fashioned montages, set to a well-curated array of songs by The Allman Brothers Band, Cat Stevens, The Temptations, The Swingle Singers, and more.  The sharp script and sharper acting keep the film thoroughly engaging; it never drags.

As a denizen of the Boston area, I enjoyed the film’s peek at Boston circa December 1970.  They did a great job replicating the feel of the era without making the film feel to stiff or stodgy as a “period piece” sometimes can.

While there might be some familiarity in how the film unfolds — it’s not a surprise that Hunham, Angus and Mary gradually bond with one another over the course of this long, cold winter break — I was pleased that the film felt so endearingly real and human throughout.  There’s a rumpled comfort to this film that I thoroughly enjoyed.  At the same time, I was surprised right up until the final beats by some of the specifics of how the story played out.  That’s a pleasing combination.

The Holdovers is wonderful, and I highly recommend it.

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