The Holdovers (2023) is directed by Alexander Payne and stars Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. The film follows Phil Hunman, a history teacher at a prestigious boys boarding school in 1970’s New England. He is a bitter man that has few friends and a reputation for being mean and unforgiving towards his students. Over the holiday break, he is forced to supervise the handful of students who have nowhere to go/be. Phil is accompanied by the troubled but brilliant student Angus Tully as well as head cook Mary Lamb whose son recently passed away while serving in the Vietnam war. They are quickly forced to find common ground and learn to coexist. Together they form a dysfunctional kind of family that might be exactly what each of them need. That’s if they can ever admit it. Masterfully directed by Alexander Payne, The Holdovers succeeds at being one of the most effective and authentic character dramas of the year while likewise being a fantastic holiday film. 

Giamatti is as strong as I’ve ever seen him and I’ve always considered him to be an extremely underrated actor. I just don’t think he has ever had that traditional movie star look, but whatever he lacks in looks he makes up for in talent. He plays a sort of spin on the Ebenezer Scrooge archetype, but with much more humanistic qualities. Although his character is undeniably cold, we are slowly able to uncover his more human side. And Giamatti is up to the task. His emotional moments are restrained, but he’s capable of showing us so much just through things like his physical expressions. He’s able to make the viewer tear up by just a simple look, saying so much with so little words. It truly is a revelation. This is all while being able to balance this element with the more cartoonish sides of his character. Payne’s direction masterfully displays this level of balance in various elements throughout the film. This is the first film where I’ve seen Dominic Sessa, and he’s really great here as well. Although the script may portray him as a cliche, rude teenager; the film quickly gives nuances to his character that make him much more complex. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is maybe the best here in a cast of strong performers. She is flawed, extremely likable, and delivers some of the best emotional beats that the film has to offer. This element of flawed but extremely likable characters is one of the reasons the film works so well. They are so nuanced and so balanced that they truly feel human. The moments that invoke pathos are subtle but so effective partly because the characters are so well drawn. 

There are very few moments when the script or performances break any immersion. Even moments of melodrama avoid feeling inauthentic. In a way, it feels more akin to the melodrama we experience in real life as opposed to the melodrama we often experience in fiction. This sort of dedication to authenticity isn’t just within the emotional beats. For example, it has an intense dedication to emulating films from the decade in which it takes place. The visual filter is appropriately grainy and the audio mix has the identifiable snap, crackles, and pops. It really adds to the setting and at the very least is a nice nostalgic treat for lovers of that era of film. This obsessive dedication to authenticity and the inclusion of sorrowful emotional beats may seem like it would lead to a film that feels dry and sad, but it’s balanced out nicely by soft comedic moments. Granted, none of these moments are particularly laugh-out-loud, but again they feel comedic in the way that real life sometimes is; most of the time funny things won’t make you die laughing, they’ll just make you grin or slightly chuckle. Seeing as the jokes never seemed intended to be side-splitting, I appreciated the fact that the film was ok with just making me grin. This light comedy coexists perfectly with the sort of mellow tone that the drama and setting both display.

The holiday elements permeate throughout the film, but never seem to take focus away from the characters. Though, the traditional themes of the holidays do align very nicely with the themes of this story. In that way, the holiday setting feels extremely appropriate. I also have always really thought that the theme of finding beauty and happiness in all of life’s crap is a perfectly beautiful and honest way to look at life. The good and the bad in life don’t always come as separately as we’d like to believe. They often come in a package deal. This film displays that in spades through not only its situations, but also its characters. These characters don’t particularly change much throughout the film, the audience’s perception of them is what changes. The more we learn about why these people are the way they are, the more we realize that there isn’t much change, there’s just more acceptance. It is a very beautiful and different way to do a character study. There’s more of an arc for us than the characters themselves. And I don’t particularly see that as a flaw, I see it as a unique strength. 

Overall, this is one of the better films I’ve seen this year and a serious one at that. It’s a true master director at work, and although I’ve appreciated many of his past films, I’ve never fallen in love with any of them. It’s early, but I think I love this film. For my money, it’s a much more touching and generally entertaining experience than the somewhat soulless three-hour long slogs of recent films such as Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon. Though, I wouldn’t say this is for everyone. Some might consider it “Oscar bait,” but to me the only flaws were some occasionally juvenile dialogue and maybe being ten minutes too long. For the holiday season, this should bring the perfect amount of heartfelt emotions, great acting,  and memorable exchanges that are both funny and fun. –A