THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Not enough people will realize it, but the holidays really do change us for better or worse.
PLOT
2023’s The Holdovers takes place in the winter of 1970 and shows English teacher Paul Hunham who is known by students and other teachers at the all male boarding school, Barton Academy, for being stubborn and has strict grading. The dislike towards him is so high from headmaster Doctor Hardy Woodrup (Andrew Garman) due to him flunking the son of a major donor. The only friend Hunham has is widowed cafeteria manager Mary Lamb who lost her only son to the Vietnam War. As punishment, he is forced to supervise five students on campus during winter break. Only after six days do one of the kids' parents takes the son and three others to a ski trip via helicopter, with the permission of the other parents. The only one to stay behind with Hunham and Mary is Angus Tully. He is stuck at school due to his mother Judy having a late honeymoon with her newly wedded husband Stanley Clotfelter (Tate Donovan). When Hunham catches the boy trying to book a hotel room and leave the premises, they argue over disciplinarian policies to the point where Tully gets himself injured for leaping into a pile of gym equipment. He gets taken to the hospital and get away with paying for treatment when lying to the doctors of the circumstances. When recovering from his injury, Tully goes with Hunham to a restaurant and there, the latter flirts with Hardy's assistant Lydia Crane (Carrie Preston). After a friendly exchange, she invites the two to a Christmas Eve party. Mary joins them with her date, Danny (Naheem Garcia), who is the school's janitor. It seems to go well at first when Angus hangs out with Lydia's niece, but it goes downhill when Hunham finds out Crane has a boyfriend and Mary drunkenly breaks down over the loss of her son. As Hunham takes her friend home, Angus considers dropping her off and return to the party. but his teacher is against it. The boy pleads for it since it's noted Mary doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for her and believes the party was the best thing to happen in this break. Offended, Hunham admits how bad he wishes his father Thomas (Stephen Thorne) to pick him up since his mom has been unreachable the whole time. Angus ends up ending the argument revealing his dad has died and his mom remarried. By Christmas morning, Paul chooses to redeem himself for his poor choice of words by gifting him his favorite novel, Meditations, which he also gifts Mary, and takes him to Boston as a field trip. Mary joins them to be dropped off at Roxbury so she can visit her pregnant sister, gifting her clothes to prepare for the baby. At Boston, Paul and Angus visit the Museum of Fine Arts and enjoy themselves until they encounter a former classmate from Harvard. After encountering him, Hunham shares that he falsely accused him of plagiarism when not letting cheat on a paper and got him expelled. When he retaliated by hitting him with a car, Hardy gave him an adjunct teaching job out of pity, knowing his career prospects were ruined. Angus later tries to ditch him at Oprheum Theatre to visit his dad, but the teacher catches up and has no choice but to admit his dad suffers from schizophrenia and is now living in a psychiatric hospital thanks to Judy marrying Stanley. Angus admits that he takes medication for depression and worries of turning like his dad, but his teacher assures that'll never be the case. After reuniting with Mary to have a fancy dinner, they return to campus to celebrate the new year of 1971 with Danny. When the spring session begins, Paul is summoned to Hardy's office and meets Judy & Stanley for the first time. They show up to address the fact they discovered Angus visited Thomas because a snowglobe he gifted him ended up being used as a weapon and must now be moved to another hospital that'll take him. Paul takes the blame for what happened by claiming due to Angus' mom being unreachable, he persuaded the boy to see his dad. Rather than punishing Angus by transferring him to a military academy, Hardy chooses to fire Paul for his actions. As he packs up his belongings, Hunham gives his farewell to Angus who thanks him for what he did and Mary gifts him a notebook for a monograph he intends to write. The film ends with him driving away with an expensive cognac he stole from Hardy's office.
THOUGHTS
Alexander Payne is the kind of filmmaker where you know you’re in for a treat once you hear his name. This isn’t just a case of being no exception because to me, I feel like this movie in particular is able to top everything he has gotten to do at this point there was this uncanny amount of warmth in such a dramedy and I think the setting being in the holidays makes it so visceral to accept. When listening to Mark Orton’s score or witnessing majestic cinematography by Elgil Bryld, you’re just feeling nurtured. From start to finish, you come to understand this is a story about how important connection is to recover from setback and kindness really goes a long way whether or you not know the person you pass it on to because it paves the way for the inner growth you’re not even searching for. With a dynamic trio, this couldn’t be any more fluent. I’ve grown up watching actor Paul Giamatti in so many movies and he was always the highlight no matter the quality of the film itself. The role of Paul Hunham feels like his absolute best because he is a grinch who hated how things didn’t go his way, especially when making a humble decision that backfired, and takes it out on everyone in his line of work. Little did he expect to meet his match from one child to have a matching attitude not because he’s spoiled compared to other kids he’s taught, but he’s got his own issues to worry about. Breakout Dominic Sessa was amazing as Angus because he is a boy who is acting out of fear. He feels so bad for his dad that he tries to keep whatever is left of a relationship they had so he can have something to be happy about. The fact his mom is banning him from having one for his own protection riles him up and breaks him down all at once he worries he’ll fall down a path no one would prepare for at that time. Apart from having a dislocated shoulder, he ended up getting along with Hunham because they end up relating to the feeling of disappointment of life not turning out the way they hoped. The more they were together, the more they understood life isn’t supposed to go as planned and gotta figure it out as it happens. Personally, they pick up on this when having another friend who would tell it like it is. Da’Vine Joy Randolph was a force to be reckoned with in the role of Mary that led to her dominating awards season. We loved this character so much throughout not just for relating to loss but mainly for her honesty towards Paul. Because she was a mom, she knows what to not to say to a kid to avoid causing heartbreak. That alone is what inspires her to tell Paul to change his ways. Had she not told him that, she would’ve not been in that acceptance phase of losing her son. The finale is nonstop heartbreak for me because all three characters are able to be there for each other in more ways than one. Mary reaching her hand out for Angus had me weeping instantly because she’s giving him the comfort she never got to give her son. And Paul taking the blame was a powerful moment because he was saving the boy’s life and the latter will appreciate it for the rest of his life. It was at that moment where we got to understand Judy’s perspective. You see the frown on the face of actress Gillian Vigman where you see she doesn’t want to punish her son but has to get the message across that seeing his dad isn’t gonna fix him. And at that moment, each three pillars of lead characters get to have newfound confidence. Once Paul is fired, he’s comfortable enough to tell Angus which eye to look at since one is lazy and stands up to Hardy by calling him the human form of penis cancer in hysterical fashion. With Paul having the chance to go on with his life, Mary and Angus are now inspired to do the same and I hope they all get to live it to the fullest. With the newfound positivity they find for themselves, that is what I call a happy ending for me. In short, The Holdovers is one of the best movies ever for just being unconventional in terms of finding inner joy. If you want to shake up your holiday watchlist, watch this now.
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