Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Holdovers’

1/2/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Dominic Sessa and Paul Giamatti as Angus Tully and Paul Hunham in Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers’. (Photo Courtesy of Focus Features.)

When we are young, we are taught that the holiday season is a truly magical time. Where evil is forgotten and fades into the background, replaced instead by good will toward one another and a sense of unity. Where the bright and colorful lights fill up hearts and fill up the world and that lesson sticks with us hard. Because we do see people be kind to one another during the season, and we see meaningful gifts be given and received and we do see joy and unity. Where everyone has a smile on their faces as they sing songs of Christmas cheer and of letting the past year go, and well… what’s incredible about this lesson… is how quickly we come to learn that it is an outright lie when we leave the wonder of our youth behind and begin to step toward adulthood.

For as we grow into that all important age where the world comes into focus, do we see that the holiday season is nothing short… of a foolhardy attempt to right the wrongs of the world. Where we put up the façade of those joyous elements in the hopes that somehow… it will ooze into the world’s ills, and fix them, instead of us all working together collectively to impact real change. Which really does shock us and leaves us beside ourselves. For the holidays were supposed to be so much more, but they are instead… just several weeks of the norm with strings of lights placed atop everything and that does leave us to wonder… why we bother with the season. Because what’s the point of celebrating a lie and pushing it forward when people are indeed suffering or struggling beneath the cover of ignorance?

Well, that’s a question that a great deal of us have asked throughout the years, with a mixed bag of answers. But the fact of the matter is… value can be found in the holiday season and there are valid reasons that make it worth celebrating, as evidenced by what the brand-new feature, The Holdovers, explores regarding the season. For this is a story that introduces us to a trio of individuals that are dealing with a difficult holiday season at Barton Academy in 1970. For instance, Mary Lamb is dealing with the sad reality that her son Curtis, won’t be home for Christmas because of his passing in Vietnam, and young Angus Tully has been left at the school for the entire winter break because his parents want little to do with him, and Professor Paul Hunham is tasked with watching over all of them until the break is over. Which he sees as a waste of his time and talents, and well… that only amplifies underlying disdain that all of them harbor regarding the season and its genuinely hollow nature. But their time together will in fact, do wonders for them this holiday. For having a trio of people that are experiencing grief, loneliness, and a need to find direction… will serve as the perfect formula for helping them to see what the season is really all about.

Which is a concept, that quickly allows for the film to answer to the question that hangs heavy over us. In that what makes the holidays worthwhile and genuinely magical, is coming to understand the incredible reality… that we are a part of something greater. That we are part of an incredible species, that experience similar struggles and similar pains, and live and die together on a tiny blue ball that hurtles through space, and we forget that and should use the holiday season to reflect upon the reality… that we’ve been given the gift of being part of something so special. For we are indeed a true rarity in the universe, and if we took a moment to understand that, and learn from another and care for one another accordingly… our lives and our culture would indeed change for the better. But alas, getting to that lesson is no easy task because of the walls we put up, the clichés we believe in, and the isolation we put ourselves through.

Those struggles are of course, put forth via the characters, who come from unique walks of life, and they are what makes this motion picture work so well. Because we are able to connect with each of the core trio here in some capacity, courtesy of their quirks, their experiences and that immediately draws us into a film that offers those lessons and incredible journeys in a unique manner through its setting. For the 1970s are not a place that we often equate with finding learning experiences because of how tumultuous a time it was in modern history. But it parallels the chaos of now and seeing similarities to both eras reminds us, as does Paul in a poignant scene that… our experiences are timeless. That each generation has more in common with one another than we give them credit, and that too, would help us find meaning in this special season, since that would reinforce the lesson at hand give us the perspective, we all desire.

All of which brings forth, a stunningly powerful motion picture. One that is also carried by some equally as powerful performances. Since Da’Vine Joy Randolph truly sells the power of Mary Lamb’s grief in this tale, and Dominic Sessa is simply electric as Angus Tully and properly reminds us of the uncertainty of youth and its unexpected struggles. But of course, it is Paul Giamatti that steals the show here as Paul Hunham, since Giamatti brings forth an incredible depth to Professor Hunham, one that is rarely seen in period pieces and one that we truly latch onto because his journey reflects a lot of our own and well… he is what brings together a magnificent story that quite frankly… the world needs right now. For we are indeed divided and jaded, and what better a way to cut through the nonsense and the noise, than a pure holiday film that presents a refreshing take on the greatest gift of all… the life we’ve been given.

Watch ‘The Holdovers’

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