Director: Alexander Payne
Writer: David Hemingson
Stars: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
Synopsis: A cranky history teacher at a remote prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go.
It’s December 1970 in Massachusetts and the boarding prep school Barton Academy is about to head into Christmas recess. Well, not all will go into recess as some students, for various reasons, cannot rejoin their families and are stuck at the school for the duration. The unlucky teacher who will watch over these unfortunate ones is Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), not liked for his rigidness towards students and who considers this hire a punishment for failing a student from a major family. He is a curmudgeon who may have been right in his teachings, but being uncompromising creates many enemies. One of the holdovers is Angus Tully (newcomer Dominic Sessa), who was excited for his Caribbean holiday, only for a last-second change to force him to stay out in the bitter cold.
An unusual partnership is created between Paul, a loner who has never married or has children, and Angus, who is rebellious, having been kicked out of other schools, and faces military school if he is expelled from Barton. Taking place at the time of the Vietnam War, he could become another casualty of the draft. Angus is a smart kid, as his recent grade on his ancient history exam in Paul’s class shows. Eventually, Angus opens up to what is a somewhat troubled childhood that has influenced him. Angus lost his father, and his mother remarried a wealthy man who sees Angus as an inconvenience, so Angus does not have the family connection he desires.
The trio of Paul, Angus, and the school’s head cook, Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), as a makeshift family creates a bond amongst the lonely at the corner of their lives. Randolph’s performance, in her moments, is some heart-wrenching stuff. Mary is wise-cracking and is one not to take nonsense, but has a heart which still is void going through her first Christmas without her son. She and Paul have a mutual friend: bourbon. The humor is balanced with the more emotional pulls of these moments with the characters going through the melancholy of their lost ways.
Director Alexander Payne bounces back from his dismal Downsizing six years ago with his best film since Sideways. This is a warm film with a ton of heart with the actors, Payne’s direction, and David Hemingson’s script mixing perfectly an original eggnog of pathos from early 70s films. Even the opening credits, with the R-Rating and the studio graphics give homage to the era (even though Focus Features wasn’t founded until 2002); this is Payne’s first film that is a period piece, yet it feels fresh in contemporary times. His touch is light and never overdoes the workings of the characters as their wounds are opened, then healed again.
The Holdovers humanizes people who are out of touch with reality but showcasing why their flaws exist. The holidays do show what someone’s real feelings are if ripped away from their loved ones and counting the years wasted. Every time Angus and Paul are together going through the emotions, there is something that connects to everyone without the use of any gimmick. It binds them together that the differences they have are not irreconcilable, but that they can learn from each other in a time of need.
