Iowa Film Critics Choose 'The Holdovers' as Best Picture

The Iowa Film Critics have announced the winners of their annual Critics Awards. Critics from the Hawkeye State, myself included, announced our choices for the best movies of 2023 and Alexander Payne's The Holdovers was the big winner, taking Best Film, Best Actor for Paul Giamatti, and Best Supporting Actress for Da'Vine Joy Randolph.

The Holdovers tells the story of a student at a private school who is stuck staying at school over the holidays. Dominic Sessa stars as Angus, the leftover student dealing with not having his father around and his mother having left him behind. Paul Giamatti is the teacher who is tasked with staying at the college to oversee Angus and Da'Vine Joy Randolph is the school's head Chef who chooses to stay behind following the death of her son in Vietnam. She's avoiding going home to her family to avoid being reminded of her son's death.

Paul Giamatti is incredible in The Holdovers. His dyspeptic professor doesn't suffer fools gladly and Giamatti's angry wit and barely veiled contempt is the perfect set up for a character who will soften over the course of the story, accepting the role of mentor and father figure in his own unique way. The chemistry between the three leads in The Holdovers is exceptional. All three actors bring the best out of each other. Their dynamic of keeping each other honest while trying to protect their true feelings never stops being compelling and entertaining. The movie is funny, warm, and smart.

Other winners included Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer tying The Holdovers director Alexander Payne for Best Director. I, myself, voted for Nolan's remarkable, epic work in Oppenheimer but I cannot complain about the tie. The Holdovers is a tremendous return to form for Alexander Payne following his over-reaching and far too odd film, Downsizing, starring Matt Damon. Downsizing wasn't bad but it wasn't quite the kind of movie we expect from Payne.

The Holdovers is far closer to Payne's style, recalling his moving and hilarious work with Giamatti in Sideways and his witty and insightful work in Election. The direction of The Holdovers is mature and professional, assured and confident. The look of The Holdovers evokes the 1970s and the films of Hal Ashby or Paul Mazursky. The look gives The Holdovers the feeling of being out of another time, the heady era of the New Hollywood mavericks and innovators. The evocative look underlines Payne's directorial talent as a stylish, funny and smart filmmaker.

Of all of the winners at the Iowa Film Critics Awards however, my personal favorite is Robert Downey Jr. winning for his remarkable performance in Oppenheimer. The Yin to Cillian Murphy's Yang, the ways in which Downey reveals his duplicitous character and his personal rivalry with Murphy's Oppenheimer is a masterful piece of acting. The key is remembering that Downey's Lewis Strauss never saw himself as the villain in Oppenheimer's story. Strauss was a man of his own conviction and beliefs, and while petty jealousies nagged at him and influenced him, Downey only leans into the ugly aspects of Strauss for a few very effective scenes, preferring to play Strauss as a man convinced of his main character status.

The full list of winners is below...

Best Film

Winner The Holdovers

Runner Up Oppenheimer

Best Director

Winner Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer and Alexander Payne The Holdovers

Best Actor

Winner Paul Giamatti The Holdovers

Runner Up Cillian Murphy Oppenheimer

Best Actress

Winner Emma Stone for Poor Things and Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon in a tie.

Best Supporting Actor

Winner Robert Downey Jr. Oppenheimer

Runner Up: Ryan Gosling Barbie

Best Supporting Actress

Winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph The Holdovers

Best Song

WINNER: I’m just from Barbie in our third sweep

Runner Up What Was I Made For from Barbie & Road to Freedom from Rustin in a tie.