The Holdovers
The Holdovers
Starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da-Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston
Directed by Alexander Payne
At the prestigious Barton Academy, the students who attend are the wealthy elite who'll eventually go on to Harvard, Brown or Yale, and who pretty much all have chips on their shoulders for being wealthy and elite. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is the classics teacher who's the hard nose of the school: he doesn't relent on giving kids failing grades (even the one who got denied access to Harvard because of it), he gives homework during Winter Break, and he's generally disliked by students and faculty alike. Yet his hard exterior hides an interior who struggles with regrets of his past.
When Winter Break begins there's a few students who don't have families to go home to, or those who's parents are too busy. They're the holdovers, and they stay at the school during break. Paul was chosen as the teacher to stay during the holiday and be the babysitter of sorts, but a few days in most of the holdovers are taken by one of their fathers' to a skiing trip, leaving only fifteen-year-old Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a student who's bright and smart, but also a pain in the butt, especially to Paul. Yet even his tough outer exterior hides a pained interior, as he's dealing with the grief of losing his father.
Then there's Mary (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), the head cafeteria worker who also stays on campus and who's outwardly and inwardly dealing with the insurmountable grief of losing her only son in the Vietnam War. She is melancholy but also opens herself up to Angus as a sort of mother figure while she's also dealing with her own grief.
Together the three of them form an unlikely family dynamic that starts off rocky, but as the weeks go by they grow closer and learn about each other, delving deeper into their shared grief and breaking their walls to open themselves up to healing and friendship.
The Good:
Honestly I can't think of anything bad to say about this film. Everything about it is exceptional - from the storytelling to the performances and the cinematography, everything about this movie touched my heart. It's emotional and grounded, but also has moments of brevity and humor that helps make the medicine go down a bit smoother. That medicine is the issue of grief, and how we often deal with it. Some people open up and allows others to help, while others hide it inside and lets it fester inside while on the outside they come off as guarded and unapproachable. Here, Mary is the first who opens herself up more to people around her (even though she's still a bit guarded), while Paul and Angus keep their pain inside, masked by tough exteriors that often rub each other the wrong way. Only when they begin opening up more to one another do they realize they got more in common than they thought, leading to a unique family dynamic that we've seen in other films, but here it works perfectly.
While the film does rely on some cliches about this dynamic, Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson make it relatable and doesn't sugarcoat it. There's a realness to it that's refreshing and something completely different, making each character more than the sum of their pains. You can see yourself in these characters, and there's not one of them that's unlikable even despite their outer flaws. Their pain is real, and not over-exaggerated for the big screen. You believe it. You've lived it. You know it.
Payne reunites with his "Sideways" star Paul Giamatti to hold the film together, and he does so with a steely resolve. He plays Paul as a hard-nose who gives his students homework for Winter Break and who's not afraid to fail students who deserve it, with hardly any wiggle room for compassion. He's the professor you never wanted in high school, but sometimes he's the one you need because he'll be the most honest with you, even though that honesty is not watered-down. Yet as the film progresses we see the pain behind the eyes, as he deals with being alone in life and not fully embracing everything he wanted to do when he was younger. In a way he pushes students because in his mind that's the way to help them achieve their goals.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph is better known as the comedic sidekick to Sandra Bullock's character in "The Lost City," but here there's very little comedy to be had. As Mary, she is dealing with the death of not just her only child, but her husband as well, and expresses her pain through hidden grief. Her character could've been a caricature of grief where she bawls her eyes out and smashes everything in sight, but instead she handles it like most people probably do: by compartmentalizing it and keeping it inside. There's quiet moments where she sheds a few tears, and one breakdown, but she holds back when it comes to being too over-the-top about it, which makes it all the more heartbreaking and believable. One particular scene where she visits her sister and unpacks a hatbox containing the baby clothes of her lost son is powerful in its simplicity, and buzz around Hollywood is that she's a shoe-in for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination - and I'd be shocked if she didn't get it.
Finally there's Dominic Sessa who plays Angus Tully, and you'd be remissed to think that he's a seasoned younger actor due to his impeccable, nuanced, and deeply personal performance. Yet this is his first major motion picture role, and it's all the more stunning to see such a talented actor in his debut role giving a flawless, perfect performance. Yet that's what happened, as we're witness to a future superstar in the making. Angus is a troubled teen who's dealing with personal family issues that hardens him to the world, and especially Paul's gruff form of punishments, but it's because of this grief that he doesn't come off as a total jerk. While he does get into fights and verbally attacks Paul, he's also compassionate and caring, such as tending to a fellow student who had a nightmare and wet his bed, or how he treats Mary with the utmost respect. He has several layers to the character that Sessa slowly peels away until in the end you're left in awestruck wonder at how he managed to pull it off, and do so in his first role. It's an inspiration.
The film takes place in the 70s, and although it was filmed digitally it was edited afterward to incorporate the celluoid film style of the 70s with the film grain, halation and gate weave that were reminiscent of the time. The natural lighting also made it feel more natural, and each scene was shot on location at actual locations with no soundstages used. This all added to the organic feel to the film, which allowed for the story to breathe naturally and give off a different feel than others like this.
The Summary:
By studying grief through the eyes of three broken people who come together during the Winter Break, "The Holdovers" makes you question your own grief and how you handle it due to the natural storytelling and three exceptional performances that'll open your heart to see others for more than their outer exterior.
The Score: A+
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