The Holdovers Review: Paul Giamatti Shines in ’70s Throwback

By wazup on October 25, 2023 Comments Closed / 42 views

The Holdovers Review: Paul Giamatti Shines in '70s Throwback

The Pitch: It’s 1970, just about to become 1971, and the Vietnam War rages overseas, but at Barton Academy, an esteemed New England boarding school, class and tradition insulate the boarding school’s sheltered students from that reality. That doesn’t keep personal tragedies at bay, like Angus (Dominic Sessa) being told that instead of spending the holiday break with his mother and new husband in a tropical locale, he’ll be forced to stay at school with the other students who won’t be going home for Christmas. (You might call them… the Holdovers.)

Because you can’t just leave kids alone in a school by themselves (not on purpose, anyway), cantankerous history teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) gets the job of babysitting over the break. However, unforeseen circumstances lead to Hunham and Angus being the only ones left at the school, along with school cook Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) — forced isolation that leads to student and teacher bonding in unexpected ways that prove life-changing for them both.

Just Like Grandma Used to Watch: In addition to the basic goal all good movies strive for — to tell a story well — The Holdovers seems to have been created with a secondary purpose in mind: To be the most 1970s-ish movie made since December 31st, 1979. This approach was first signaled by trailers for the film, which leaned into the voiceover-heavy approach common for film advertisements of the era, and is ever-present in the completed film.

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During a recent press conference discussing the making of the film, director Alexander Payne commented that “It’s not just a period film — my collaborators and I here gave ourselves the thought challenge/experiment of time traveling, and pretending as though we were making a film shot, shot in 1970 and 71.” What’s striking about that approach in this case is that it solidifies The Holdovers as a movie that truly belongs to a different time.

As an intimate character study that doesn’t pander and doesn’t over-explain, The Holdovers still proves touching and even profound at points. Payne has made movies not set in Nebraska, but his fascination with the state has always been an identifying factor to his work, which is why it’s all the more exciting to see a film by him set in a very different time and place, but with the same depth of feeling that he brings to his own home turf. And it also reteams him with his Sideways star, with memorable results.

‘Tis the (Awards) Season: Essential to the film’s success is Paul Giamatti’s Oscar-worthy performance, as one of our finest character actors explores the nuances and ugly corners of Paul Hunham as a man. Paul’s quirks include an issue with body odor (communicated to the audience with impressive degrees of subtlety), a not-insignificant drinking habit, and a lazy eye so successfully executed by the production team that one might almost forget that it’s not an actual issue Giamatti deals with.

The Holdovers (Focus Features)