The Holdovers is a breath of fresh air in a cinema landscape dominated by faux grandiosity, as its simple story focuses on the real and flawed human characters through an examination of rather ordinary events in their lives. Directed by Alexander Payne, the film tells the story of the strict and disliked classics teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), as he is forced to look after the handful of private school students who are staying over at the school during Christmas break.
The cinematography of The Holdovers is understated but excellent. It lets the heart of the story, the characters, breath without being intrusive at all. Although it is filmed using digital lenses, the movie still retains a retro portrait look which further contributes to the nostalgic quality. The cinematography also works with the set design to help characterize the self-imposed isolation and the slow bonding amongst the main characters. Though it takes place in the 70s, The Holdovers never felt like a period piece and felt more timeless than anything. This holds true except for the music of the film, which borrows heavily from popular 70s bands such as The Allman Brothers Band and Tony Orlando and Dawn.
The actors in The Holdovers are uniformly excellent with Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph standing out from amongst the cast. Paul Giamatti does a near perfect job of portraying the gruff but soft-hearted Paul Hunham. He strikes the right balance between being someone the audience can love but also retaining some flaws which make him realistic. While Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s performance lacked the time and depth for it to be an all-time great, she has an imposing presence in the film and adds some much-needed gravitas to the simple story.
The story of The Holdovers is what really sold me on the film. It is one of those films which does not follow a standard three-act narrative structure but still maintains audience engagement. This is due to the intense focus on the characters and their relationship. The actors’ performances and the depth of the characters means that they are entertaining even when doing mundane tasks because we understand their motivations, struggles, and goals. There is no predictability to the story and even though the stakes are not high, the audience has bought into the characters early on and is eager to find out what happens next. The film also has a great amount of charm and heart. It’s practically a Christmas movie given that it takes place over Christmas break and has a very feel-good message throughout.
Overall, I would recommend that everyone go and see The Holdovers as soon as possible. It is a fantastic nostalgic film with likeable characters and a high likelihood of giving you a warm fuzzy feeling in the depths of your soul by the time its finished.