The Holdovers

You know the feeling you get when you are overcome by emotion? That sort of tingling in your chest? That’s what The Holdovers did to me with its subtle, restrained exploration of three disparate characters who find support and comfort in their unlikely alliance. “Holdovers,” you see, are those folks left behind during Christmas break at a fading New England boarding school. The film focuses on three of those holdovers: Mr. Hunham (played by the masterful Paul Giamatti) as a curmudgeonly classics teacher scorned by all; Mary Lamb (the incredible Da’Vine Joy Randolph in a role that embodies all emotions, but remains true and real and controlled), the campus cook crippled by the loss of her son; and Angus (newcomer Dominic Sessa in a star-making first role), an angst-ridden teen cast off to boarding school by parents with issues of their own. That the story is set in the early 70s at a tony private school is actually irrelevant (though both those elements make for striking details in production design); the film is ultimately timeless because it puts its focus firmly on the characters - their interior struggles, their positions within the cultural milieu of the academic world, and their eventual conquests. Without the stereotypical network of “real” family, this trio manages to form a “chosen” family, a support system that allows them to transcend their internal and external torments. The film’s director, Alexander Payne (you might know a few of his other works, like “Election” or “Sideways”), has a considered, understated, and masterful eye that effortlessly guides the viewer through a soul-satisfying emotional journey. This film is a triumph.