The Holdovers Review

Frustrations of the winding twilight career years come through The Holdovers almost immediately. Fading, receding and adorned in tweed and bowties, the frustrations and desire for isolation come through thoroughly. Soft as anything and stuck frying their brains on pop culture and living alone at Christmas, the younger generation is as screwed and damned as the older one and the one in between. Three of them come together here under one roof, and for it to work as well as it does, firm hands are of course needed. The Holdovers has plenty to offer, from its talent to its charming aesthetic which brings through a grainy touch to its story of Vietnam horrors affecting home life. Alexander Payne has often been in touch with character studies, and he shows no signs of stopping here.  

Paul Giamatti is in stellar form – the leading man for an expectedly depthful portrayal. Bruce Dern did this for Nebraska, Jack Nicholson focused up and managed it for About Schmidt. Here it is the turn for an expert and underappreciated hero of the screen. His turn as Paul Hunham is exceptional, an old schoolteacher proud of his work and nothing more. Against the slights of his students and strongly in favour of offering education, and utterly, utterly hilarious. Payne and Giamatti offer up some of their best writing and acting respectively. Giamatti is a gift to the screen, Hunham an exceptional portrayal of those completely repelled by entitled boarding school teens. Despite the backdrop of trauma and tragedy, there is a tenderness and warmth to The Holdovers which is at first unexpected but begins to unravel itself well.  

Dominic Tessa is given his fair share of wonderful dialogue too. The Holdovers has an exceptional pace to it. It utilises these people as what they are, people. These are human stories. Examples of the past and present in whirring, fearful motion. Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Giamatti enjoy arguably the best works of their respective, glittering careers. The great divide between private education and those who properly suffer. But everyone suffers. The Holdovers hopes its audience can have the emotional complexity to feel bad for those who buy their way to the top – their personal lives still spill over. “Barton boys don’t go to Vietnam,” is as clear as it gets. The conversation to follow is keen, the chemistry between Giamatti and Tessa is exceptional and carries the major spots of this film.  

Some cannot dream whole dreams. Hunham is the future for those who cannot get themselves the whole way through. Trauma and grief at Christmas is a constant for many, The Holdovers captures this and the resentment which bubbles to the surface for the lonely hearts and frustrated, isolated souls. The Holdovers is another exceptional piece from Payne – that should be no surprise. He has mastered the character traditions and grand form which springs from placing people who do not truly know one another. But we hold grudges and come together at the most necessary of times – when lies benefit the soothing of the mind and patch up holes long left dormant by those who now hold weight, one undeserving way or another. The Holdovers is beyond exceptional, its sharp writing an absolute essential for Payne, Giamatti, Tessa and Randolph.