The Holdovers is Classic Giamatti and Payne at its Best

Name: The Holdovers is Classic Giamatti and Payne at its Best
Uploaded: 2023-12-30T22:00:57-08:00
Description: The Holdovers will break your heart and make you smile all while reminding one that history is not just the

The holiday season can be tricky. For some it’s their favorite time of the year, for others a chance to show appreciation to those related and chosen family throughout the year, and then there are those whose grief is all encompassing. The only thing that can snap one out of it is a little laughter or sharing that time of the year

Nobody likes teacher Paul Hunham (Giamatti). Not his students, not his fellow faculty, nor the headmaster, who all find his pomposity and rigidity exasperating. With no family and nowhere to go over Christmas holiday in 1970, Paul remains at school to supervise students unable to journey home , otherwise known as the holdovers. After a few days, only one student holdover remains, a trouble-making 15-year-old named Angus (Dominic Sessa), a good student whose bad behavior always threatens to get him expelled. Joining Paul and Angus is head cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) a woman who caters to sons of the privileged and whose own son was recently lost in Vietnam. When these three shipwrecked, damaged people form an unlikely holiday family sharing comic misadventures during two snowy weeks in New England, real journey is becomes how they help one another understand they’re not beholden to their past. Their future has yet to be written.

https://youtube.com/live/q0vZXZZOdd8

Reunited for the first time since “Sideways,” Giamatti and Payne prove once again why their cinematic partnership fires on all cylinders like fireworks. Giamatti’s command of language is second to none and his all encompassing characterization of Paul is complexly layered with a humanity that makes you cheer for him instead invoking empathy.

Dominic Sessa in his feature film debut is a revelation. His portrayal of Angus will remind you of every kid you ever encountered in class who thought they were smarter than anyone…including the teacher. We all know this behavior masquerades for issues similar to insecurity of self, familial predicaments or relationship trauma. As Angus, Sessa is raw, while embracing physical comedy and emotionality of artists twice his age. He is a marvel to behold and I have no doubt this is just the tip of the iceberg for his career.

https://youtu.be/32gLYCq2mQY

Then there’s the divine Miss Da’Vine Joy Randolph whose range shows no boundaries. As Mary, the vulnerability exposed through this character is stellar. Particularly during a kitchen scene at a colleague’s holiday party where grief is all encompassing from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. Randolph tackles a domestic role that could easily have been one note and stereotypical. Instead, she makes Mary a flesh and blood human being navigating the most difficult of emotions – grief while navigating the preciousness of family – chosen and related.

Normally, both screenwriter and director, Payne only helms this project leaving script quips in the hands of David Hemingson. The earmark of a exceptional script for me is when characters feel as though the words organically flow off the tongue with little to no effort. Hemingson accomplishes this task in spades.

The Holdovers will break your heart and make you smile all while reminding one that history is not just the study of the past, but an explanation of the present. A present to be lived in and embraced with every fiber of one’s being if you remain open to it.