Movie Review: 'The Holdovers'

The Holdovers (2023)

Directed by Alexander Payne

Written by David Hemingson

Starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Release Date October 27th, 2023

Published November 20th, 2023

The Holdovers is the story of three people trying to avoid discomfort, sadness, and reminders of grief and loss. It's a story that patiently and comically lays out the case that avoiding life is as painful or more painful than risking pain or sadness in the pursuit of something good. The trio of main characters in The Holdovers are cut off from the world physically and, more importantly, metaphorically as they'd like to avoid discomfort or wish that they could shape the world to what they want it to be. They will each learn that the world doesn't conform to anyone's will and that hiding from the world is not the answer.

Paul Hunham, a perfectly rumpled Paul Giamatti, is the most hated teacher at Barden Academy, a private school for very, very, rich boys. Hunham is openly contemptuous and hostile toward students who don't appear to take their learning as seriously as he does. Hunham doesn't appear to enjoy many things but he does relish openly insulting students who fail to meet his standard of excellence in learning. Oh but, Paul's contempt is not reserved for just the lesser students in his class. He has hate for school staff, fellow teachers, and for his boss, a former student of his who can't understand how Paul has remained at the school considering how miserable Paul appears to be at all times.

The plot of The Holdovers kicks in when one of Paul's fellow teachers schemes his way out of staying at the school for the winter/Christmas break. Thus, the duty of staying behind at the school and supervising kids left behind by parents and guardians, falls to Paul. Admittedly, Paul was going to be at the school during the break anyway, he doesn't have a life or home away from Barton. Monitoring the holdover students will also allow Paul to indulge in his dictatorial style of teaching even during a time when students are supposed to be on a break.

There are five students this year who have nowhere to go for the holidays. Among the five is Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a brilliant young man haunted by the ghost of his father. The other four students are soon shuffled off to a convenient trip with a generous parent but Angus is stuck as his mother is refusing to respond to repeated calls. Thus, we end up with Paul, Angus, and the school's head cook, Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). Mary is grieving the loss of her son who was killed in Vietnam not long before the setting of this story in December of 1970.

Mary could have assigned someone to take the job as cook for the holdover students but she chose to work. She's avoiding Christmas with her little sister as the sister is pregnant and about to give birth. Mary, having recently lost her son doesn't want to be reminded of what she lost by the joy that her sister is about to feel with the birth of her baby. That desire to avoid pain is powerful and it is part of what each of our main characters in The Holdovers must overcome. Living life means risking pain, heartache and sorrow for the chance to experience joy and happiness. One emotion reflects the other and are an unavoidable part of being alive.

Coming back to life is part of the story of The Holdovers. Paul specifically, has avoided having a life outside of his job. Through his experience with Angus and Mary, Paul will eventually open up and begin to see possibilities in life that he's avoided all these years. Developing an emotional bond with Angus, Paul becomes a reluctant father figure, more than just another teacher, a genuine friend and caregiver. This is a major step into life for Paul and the movie gains weight and meaning through watching Paul's carefully curated avoidance slowly being stripped away by Angus and his desperate need to connect with someone amid his personal pain.

Dominic Sessa is quite a find as Angus. In his debut role, Sessa brings a life and mischievous gleam to Angus that makes the kid quite charismatic. He has a wise beyond his years quality that is a perfect mask for his vulnerability, a quality that will come to the surface through his experiences in the movie. The ways in which Sessa reveals Angus' childlike qualities, his modesty and innocence, are lovely. He's in this space between childhood and adulthood and dealing with personal issues that are well beyond his years. And he's doing it seemingly alone until Paul finally comes around to bonding with him. It's a brilliantly nuanced performance for someone so very young and inexperienced.

Writer-director Alexander Payne seems to enjoy the topic of grief, loss, and pain, and how those painful emotions are reflected by the positive emotions of love, relief, and compassion. In many of Payne's films you find characters who would prefer to stick to their routine because it is easy and familiar. Payne loves pushing those characters out of their comfortable nests, putting them in painful situations, and watching them grow and improve from the experience. That's at the heart of Sideways, Nebraska, About Schmidt, and The Descendants as well. But, The Holdovers is perhaps Payne's masterwork on this subject, the definitive film take, for Payne, on why sadness is needed if only as a reminder of joy and seeking joy.

If you were always happy you would not know what happiness truly is. Sadness reminds us why we seek to be happy, so that we won't feel that pain anymore. Pain, struggle, anguish, are all things we overcome on our way to more positive, cathartic, and joyous feelings. Accomplishments feel so much more satisfying when you struggle and overcome an obstacle to reach that accomplishment. The accomplishments in The Holdovers aren't so much a tangible obstacle to be overcome, but rather, a series of emotional hurdles which these three wonderful characters must get over to find themselves anew.

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