No Home for the Holidays: The Holdovers Review

In high school, I formed a special bond with a teacher who some would consider a tree stump of a human being. He was strict, he was tough, and he was unwavering in many aspects. On my first day in his class, I had heard the rumors about how difficult he was— nearly impossible to pass unless he likes you, older students said. I had done the reading, I was prepared, but due to his reputation I was timid and afraid. I kept my head down and tried not to be noticed. Wrong move. He called on me to answer a question about the reading, and I was petrified. I could barely speak, but I mustered up enough confidence to mumble something that only I could hear. We went back and forth, me trying to answer the question as quietly as possible so I didn’t sound like an idiot and him trying to make sure the class heard my thoughts. Eventually, I cracked. I shouted out the answer and followed by a “damn, is that what you wanna hear?” The class fell silent, the tension palpable. My friends looked at me with eyes that said, “You know you f*cked up right?” The principal’s office was going to be my new home, I thought. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!” he exclaimed. I was confused, but in a way he made me feel seen. Throughout my high school career and taking his various classes, we bonded and formed a friendship and now he continues to be my favorite teacher I’ve ever had the pleasure of having.

Six years after his last film, Downsizing, Alexander Payne is back with what I’d argue is his most human since 2004’s Sideways. Gone are the fantastical aspects of the last movie, replaced with softer, gentler, and at times heartbreaking moments. The Holdovers (which had its Texas premiere at Austin Film Festival) reunites Payne and actor, Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Billions) to tell the story of Paul Hunham, a strict prep school history professor at Barton Academy who gets stuck with watching over five students who, for reasons their own, can’t go home during Christmas break. Over the two weeks, four of the students leave and we’re left with one student, Angus (Dominic Sessa), Hunham, and Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a grieving mother who works in the kitchen at the school.

In a film that skirts the line between a comedy and a drama, the main trio of characters are played so lifelike that I found it tough to believe this wasn’t just who they were. The actors are allowed to let their characters breathe and become tangible. Their issues are their own and sometimes they guard them closely the same way most people do, but it's their humility and their vulnerability with each other that allow you to see them as real figures. Angus is a wisecracking smart alek who gets a last-minute call from his mom that they won’t be able to come get him because she and her new husband have decided to take their honeymoon over the two weeks. It came as a shock to find out that this was Dominic Seesa’s first role on film (he had only done some theater work at Deerfield Academy Prep School), because he is outstanding as Angus. His interpretation of a spoiled, rich teenager could have easily been misconstrued into something audiences would find annoying and grating, but instead, he flips it on its head entirely giving Angus a lot of weight. In a scene where Angus decides to have some fun by messing with Hunham days before Christmas Eve, he takes a playful approach to the anxiety of being cooped up in your school for the past week and some change. When this goes awry and he needs to be rushed to the city for medical attention, the scene hits a dramatic high note. In the fallout of his prank— and despite their previous relationship— Sessa takes all of Angus’ pent-up emotions and uses them to protect Hunham from any potential trouble he may face with the headmaster. This reversal reveals Angus starting to come around to his teacher, seeing him as one of the only people who seems to care about him at this point.

Paul and Mary act as stand-ins for Angus’ parents. Giamatti is one of the best actors working today, and this role proves that fact still hasn’t changed. The hard facade he presents is broken down once he and Seesa partner in some of the more intimate scenes. The two of them have such great chemistry together that you’d think this was just another movie where the two were paired together, but when you add in Randolph’s Mary, the movie is magnified to an entirely different level. Mary works as the head of the cafeteria whose son attended Barton but was murdered in the line of combat after he decided to join the military to afford college on the GI Bill. Devastated by the loss, Mary decides to stay at Barton through the break because it’s the last place she spent time with her son before he left for duty. This is the best Randolph has been since 2019’s Dolemite is My Name. She carries a certain compassionate sadness in her eyes as the makeshift family’s emotional anchor. The rich students don’t respect her cooking because it isn’t from some Michelin-star restaurant. But, day in and day out she works to feed them, and she does it with integrity and respect for herself. In a scene where she goes to visit her sister, we see her carefully going through a box of her son’s baby clothes and items. The deep breath she takes and the smile she conjures as she recalls the memories of early motherhood genuinely brought a tear to my eye. Randolph’s depiction of this character is powerful and authentic, and it would come as no surprise if there is a supporting actress win in her near future.

All of this is bolstered by Payne’s direction and a killer script by writer, David Hemingson. Hemingson’s work in sitcom television is on full display during the film’s comedic moments, while also finding a way to charmingly weave in the dramatic. Payne deliberately chose to take the script and insert moments of pause as a character thinks of the right thing to say or reacts to a situation. His choice to use monographic audio with pops and crackles lends to the feel of this being a film from the early 70s and offers a warmth that made me smile. The gorgeous cinematography by Eigil Bryld works in contrast to the soundscape, showcasing a cold New England in the early days of winter. The six years between this and Downsizing allowed for Payne to go back to the drawing board. Where Downsizing had a lot that it wanted to say about the world we live in, The Holdovers seems to have less to say about that and more to say about the human experience and those we choose to claim as family. A kind-souled love letter to the complicated nature of life that touches on what it means to feel, be felt, and be loved and—while maybe too early to say—a new edition to the pantheon of all-time great Christmas movies. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Alexander Payne has finally made his masterpiece (sorry Nebraska, I still love you just the same).

The Holdovers opens nationwide on November 10, 2023.