It’s one thing to make a movie based on a certain era, but another animal entirely to turn back the clock and re-create the era, essentially producing a motion picture from another time and another place right here in the 2020’s. On paper, it should be near an impossible task. Yet, director Alexander Payne does just that with ‘The Holdovers’.
Set in a 1970’s remote new England all-boys prep school, the elite Barton Academy, ‘The Holdovers’ looks, feels and carries itself LIKE a 1970’s movie. It’s strategically shot, the mood is simple and quiet, it’s especially actor-focused and every turn of the page on the script has a purpose. Even the trailer reeks of 70’s flavor. Thus, the sentimentality attached to this gem for a certain generation (Hi there!) is absolutely glorious. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that almost everything else about the project is nothing short of brilliant.
‘The Holdovers’ re-unites the thoughtful-yet-ambitious Payne with Paul Giamatti, one of the stars of his breakthrough, 2004’s ‘Sideways’. And really, they’re the perfect combo for a story like this; a tale bound together with flawed characters who connect and, against both reluctance and circumstance, encourage one another in very real and very heartfelt ways.
Giamatti – for the record, one of the best thespians in the game today – is a tough love instructor named Paul Hunham. While his official class is ancient history, he also is an obvious specialist in passive aggressiveness. At one point, he refers to his students as ‘hormonal vulgarians’. (Now THAT’S good writing!) Drawing the short straw to remain behind at the school for Christmas break to supervise the students who don’t get to go home for the holidays, the gig becomes a very small affair when one rich parents surfaces and scoops up most of the group for a luxurious ski vacation, leaving only Hunham, a rebellious junior named Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa, in a solid onscreen debut), and kitchen supervisor Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Robinson), wrestling with grief after recently losing her Barton alumni son to the Vietnam War.
It’s a peculiar trio, all three very different, but all three inescapable misfits. And part of the magic of Payne’s narrative is, their qualities….even their warts….never magically change, they just react to the cards they’re dealt. Eventually, the landscape shifts from the wintry isolation of Barton Academy to a road trip to Boston, a very 70’s maneuver….yet, the change of scenery doesn’t cause Payne to bow down to sophomoric humour OR abandon the key of his story; the poignancy of true, deep relationships, and just how good it feels to have an advocate when life gets messy.
With so many emotional wrinkles, many probably wouldn’t consider this movie an instant Christmas classic. Fair enough.
Me? I’ve already got it slated for mandatory holiday viewing in about 11 months.