With the holiday season in full swing, the question in my family is always, “What Christmas movie are we gonna watch?” after we finish eating. It mostly revolves around the films that my parents grew up with that carry a large amount of nostalgia. While “The Holdovers” isn’t a classic yet-it definitely tries to be, and I think it will become one in the future.
In the stuffy New England private school of Barton, the boys are preparing to go home to spend vacation back with their wealthy families. However, for one reason or another, some students don’t go home, the holdovers. Every year, one faculty member must spend the break at the school to supervise, and this year, it’s the callous history teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). Amongst the numerous delinquents, the one that ends up sticking around the entire time is the irritating but quietly clever Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa). Meanwhile, the entire time the head chef Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) stays while grieving the death of her recently deceased son.
The entire film goes for a 1970s film aesthetic, shown through its time setting, soundtrack, editing style, production design and shot composition. Normally this approach of nostalgia goggle filmmaking comes off as lazy to me, but I don’t know, seeing it in a 35mm projection made me feel nice and cozy like I’m back home on my couch after Thanksgiving. What made this feeling even stronger is how funny it was. The great bits of physical comedy and performances are incredibly entertaining, but what I and the rest of the audience found the funniest was the nearly Shakespearian approach to verbal insults (never in my life did I think that Paul Giamatti would ever call someone “Penis Cancer.”)
Below the fun for the whole family aspect lies a dramatic story about the three loneliest people on earth. What makes them so interesting is how all their sadness is different but yet they still manage to relate to each other.
Hunham is the definition of “that one hard ass teacher you had in high school”; constantly quoting every philosopher and historian to prove his moral superiority over the kids he considers having been born with a silver spoon stuck up their butt. While it’s more of a caricature of a teacher than anything, I can’t deny how entertaining he is. Giamatti has mastered playing little weirdos with receding hairlines, so while he isn’t necessarily breaking new ground, he is nevertheless a great lead actor for a film that knows how to use him.
Although this is Sessa’s debut film, he has proven his acting skills are wide. While resting at a quick witted and sarcastic tone, he can easily express anger, passion, empathy and tenderness if the scene demands it. We slowly start to find out how tumultuous his at home life is with the complicated relationship with his parents and it allows his juxtaposed relationship to Hunham develop into a mutual appreciation.
What anchors the film when it comes to characters is Mary Lamb, who has easily gone through the most pain of the three. Her fiancé died shortly after she became pregnant, making her have to raise her son on her own. To make sure he would have a good education, she became the head of Barton’s dining service allowing him to go. Despite being so smart, she didn’t have the money to put him through college, causing him to enlist and was sent to Vietnam, dying a year later when the film is set. Randolph, who seems to have a half-smoked cigarette locked between her fingers for the majority of the film, provides a beautiful balance of maternal compassion and sarcastic sass, which Giamatti and Sessa get to bounce off of in both the comedic and dramatic moments.
Nowadays, you don’t really see anyone put in the effort to make a good Christmas movie, but writer/director Alexander Payne does what the endless Hallmark movies can’t. It’s a film that will make you laugh hysterically while also kicking you in the gut, balancing these tones effectively. My aunt has already been asking about what movie we are going to see after Thanksgiving, and while I kind of want to go see “Napoleon” with my dad, I would happily go see “The Holdovers” again.
