The Holdovers is a 2023 dramedy that finds three individuals—a teacher, a student, and a head chef—forced to stay on school campus during the holiday break.
Barton men are the best of the best. In upstate New England lies Barton Academy, a prestigious all-boys private school with loads upon loads of history from its genesis to present day 1970. One of its alumni, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) teaches a history classics class, and has developed quite the reputation for being an unforgiving hardass. His belief is that these young men have been given every advantage there is in life, but it’s no excuse for them to skate by in his course.
One of his students is the sharp-tongued yet smart Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), who is ready for the upcoming Christmas break with plans in tow to visit Boston alongside his mother and new stepfather. Sadly, those plans fall through as his parents decide to finally do their honeymoon. That leaves Angus as one of “The Holdovers,” a group of five students who are unable to go home for the long recess for whatever reason. This year, Hunham has drawn supervising responsibilities. At least they’re getting fed by the head chef, Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is dealing with her own personal issues. Being cooped indoors with people you don’t want to be around is a terrible fate, but maybe there’s a silver lining at the end of it all if they can just make it to the new year.
The adjectives of nostalgic, comforting, warm, and similar verbiage has been used to describe The Holdovers. They are apt descriptors as The Holdovers is all of those things. But it’s also extremely moving without being overly saccharine by taking a balanced approach instead of a banal one with regards to storytelling.
It’s been over half a decade since one could say a film is directed by Alexander Payne. But after the unique swing and relative miss of Downsizing, his satirical leanings are traded in for straighter lines and a smaller scale. In many ways for this one, Payne feels like he’s intentionally diminishing his presence; for only the second time in his career he’s not writing something he’s directing. That can be a good thing every now and then, and Payne’s attention here seems to be oriented towards accentuating the story and recreating a vibe literally and figuratively with worn-in saturation, grain usage, and frequent editing dissolves, helped by assistance from cinematographer Eigil Bryld. You can feel the stuffiness—and toastiness—from the first scene on. At minimum, he’s created a movie that’ll surely find a place in future holiday rotations for many.
It may be surprising to discover the script for The Holdovers is penned by an individual who had no prior film features to his credit, but writer David Hemingson uses his lived experience in Northeast prep school to create a story featuring a visible destination, but not before surprising reveals around his three main characters’ journeys, all of whom are grappling with their own trauma by putting up barriers. It’s a good example of how knowing the “where” can exist separately from the “how.” The heart of the script comes gradually and understated; rarely does it show up in obvious points in the plot, but the scene after, often in dialogue delivered nonchalantly whether in a car, liquor store, or neighborhood bar. The Holdovers probably spends slightly too much time on characters who are inconsequential on their own after 40 minutes, but their inclusion is important to funneling the story to its eventual destination, as well as fleshing out and differentiating Tully from his peers.
And speaking of Tully, it’s an impressive debut for Sessa, who is asked to hold his own with a perfectly-pitched Giamatti (who is hilarious physically and verbally while still creating a well-rounded character) in many scenes and land the plane solo in arguably the film’s most sobering moment. Bright things ahead. The other sobering moment belongs to Randolph, soft-spoken, world-weary, and hanging on by a thread, but also the person who has the most reason to be jaded and yet still leads with compassion and understanding. There’s reason to believe all three have great shots at receiving prominent nominations.
As Paul Hunham said while thinking about past events that got him excited: Curl your toes! With a great direction but an even better script and acting, The Holdovers comes together at a fitting time of the year to be christened as one of the year’s best.