Just recently, it was Christmas, and I finally caught up on a holiday movie that I’d been putting off for a very long time. Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is a wonderful little tragicomedy that definitely strikes a chord in me. In an age when AI and CGI make us lose our grip on reality more and more, a down-to-earth film like The Holdovers comes at just the right time to remind us how characters can be portrayed like humans and stories be told in the most autochthonous way. Set in a wintery New England environment with a nostalgic retro aesthetic, we follow Paul, a grumpy and unpopular history teacher; Angus, a student who has been stood up by his mom for holidays; and Mary, a black cook who’s mourning her recently fallen soldier son. The three profoundly different outcasts are forced to spend their winter break together at a second-rate boarding school and slowly but surely begin to warm up to each other. The film takes its time to tell its subtle story, offering a deep glimpse into the broken soul of 1970s America and stirring emotions with heartfelt moments and a bittersweet ending.
I like almost all of Alexander Payne’s films because they are so down-to-earth and feature these little character studies that seem to be taken straight out of everyday life. With this film, however, the director expands his repertoire with a technically accomplished production that was designed to look like an original from Hollywood’s Silver Age, seemingly unearthed from a dusty old basement. With old-fashioned camera movements, pacing, and wipe cuts, Payne almost panders to a cinephile audience. But in the end, style follows substance, and The Holdovers above all lingers on for its emotional value.
P.S.: If you feel the same way as I do and are bothered by Paul Giamatti’s lazy eye, which, as the ultimate troll-move by the production team, constantly gets switched from left to right throughout the entirety of the film, then you’re welcome to replace the official cover (#1) with its wonderfully authentic 70s design with one of my perhaps slightly more modern, but hopefully equally fitting alternative versions (#2, #3).
HQCovers 