The Holdovers – Review
133 Minutes, Rated R
Written by David Hemingson
Directed by Alexander Payne
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen as he and Ryan discuss the movie further. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
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.
Set over the Christmas holiday in 1970, The Holdovers is a period piece that virtually screams “AWARDS SEASON!”
I know that sounds cynical, but this is the time of year where studios begin to drop their heavy-hitters, the ones with big potential to garner the kind of critical success that drives awards nominations/wins which will hopefully lead to box office dollars. Traditionally lower-budget fare (in comparison to the $200M franchise blockbusters we get over the summer season), one can usually count on good scripts and excellent performances from these films.
The Holdovers is… pretty good.
Giamatti, working again with director Alexander Payne (Sideways) plays a wonderfully traditional private-school teacher. Attempting year after year to impart his extensive knowledge of ancient civilizations, he is stymied time after time by the increasing apathy and entitlement of his students, who are more accustomed to simply being GIVEN for BEING and never being held to account for their all-too-apparent shortcomings.
Saddled with the unenviable task of shepherding the few students who will remain at the school over the Christmas/New Year holiday period, he is faced with both boredom and an overabundance of adolescent energy.
Eventually being winnowed down from a group of five to a single student, he is left no place to hide, and he, intelligent-but-neglected student Angus Tully, and cook Mary Lamb confront their individual lives in the harsh light of reality.
Overall, The Holdovers is a fine piece of filmmaking, from the vintage feel of everything from its framing to the opening credits and studio logo, to the performances we get.
Giamatti is, as always, as solid a lead as you could ask for, while newcomer Dominic Sessa as Angus Tully gives us an ample helping of the pathos of adolescence. Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Mary Lamb, burdened by a loss neither of the other two could possibly comprehend, provides a real-world grounding for this tale of 1970-cum-1971 America.
But I feel like we’ve seen this movie before in films such as Dead Poet’s Society, The Emperor’s Club, and others. While this doesn’t detract from the quality of this film, it does take some of the air out of the narrative sails, so to speak.
Definitely a must-see, The Holdovers opened wide on November 10 and stars Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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