2023 – The Holdovers
Was this a good movie? Yes. Did it have some very good acting? Again, yes. Did it deserve to be nominated for Best Picture? No. I mean, the movie was fine. The plot was fine. The cast was fine, with the exception of Paul Giamatti, who was incredibly good, as usual. The direction, the music, the cinematography, the costuming was all fine. But we’ve all seen this movie before, over and over again. It is an old movie that gets rehashed every few years, and there was nothing new here. Nothing at all. I’m sorry, but five minutes into the movie, I already knew the whole story. I just needed to watch it to fill in the details, and I was not wrong.
Here’s how the story goes. An unlikely group of people are forced to spend time together, in this case a high school teacher, a troubled student, and the woman who runs the cafeteria. They have to spend the Christmas break at the school. At first both the student and the teacher hate each other, but by the end, they learn to not only respect each other, they grow to become friends. Then something bad happens to one of them and they have to part company, which they do with a bit of sadness. They have both grown as individuals, and the future holds a modicum of hope and happiness for each of them. The end.
How many times have we seen this exact story play itself out? Scent of a Woman, Finding Forrester, Charlie Bartlett, St. Vincent, Even Dead Poet’s Society, in a roundabout way. It is a story of unlikely mentorship. The teacher, Paul Hunham, played by Paul Giamatti is an old curmudgeon who teaches ancient history. The student, Angus Tully, played by Dominic Sessa, is the son of a wealthy family whose father is in a mental institution, and whose mother dismisses him. The cafeteria lady, Mary Lamb, played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, is a woman who is understandably depressed because of the deaths of both her husband, and more recently, her son. Together, the three discover companionship over the depressing Christmas holiday, and learn something about themselves, things that make them better people.
There isn’t much else to say about the rather bland plot. What made the movie good was the acting. It was dramatic, and at times, mildly amusing. But the movie had a generally depressing feeling. The music was all very angsty and depressing, which was actually appropriate for the unhappy characters and the winter setting. And yes, I liked the resolution at the end of the movie, despite its predictability.
There were only three other supporting cast members who were really noteworthy. A fellow teacher at the school who shows a friendly interest in Mr. Hunham is Lydia Crane, played by Mary Preston. Naheem Garcia played the school Janitor who shows a romantic interest in Mrs. Lamb. And the young girl who Angus meets at a Christmas party is Miss Crane’s niece, Elise, played by Darby Lily Lee-Stack. They all did a fine job, but were, honestly, nothing to write home about.
Now, I understand that there were more “holdovers” in the film. There were four other students who had nowhere to go for the Christmas holiday, but they all left after a few scenes, and didn’t show up again until the last ten minutes or so of the film. Technically, they were all the holdovers. All I can say is that it would have been a different movie if they had stayed.
It is interesting to note that this was actually a period piece, taking place in 1970. The clothing and hairstyles were very appropriate, though, if you didn’t know any better, it could have taken place today. Kids still wear their hair long, school uniforms are still school uniforms, and sad old history professors still often wear bow-ties. The only parts in the movie where the 70s is visually apparent is when they take a field trip to Boston. But even then, you really have to look for it.
So what is it about Paul Giamatti that makes him such a good actor? He is always so intentional when he is creating a character. There is a realness to him that is unmistakable. And he has such a wide range of on-screen emotions that he is able to use. He can go from anger to embarrassment, from sympathetic to disdainful, sometimes within the same scene. There is an honesty and earnestness to him that always translates very well on the big screen. And he has very expressive eyes and eyebrows. The scene at the Christmas party where he feels an emotional connection with Miss Crane, only to discover that she is married, is almost heartbreaking to watch. He was that good.
But he wasn’t the only good actor in the film. I also really enjoyed Da’Vine Joy Randolph. There was also a great deal of truth in her performance. I especially liked the scene at the Christmas party where she got drunk. Her anger and loneliness over the loss of her husband and son were very raw and exposed, which she played to perfection. You could see her eyelids get heavy and she had trouble keeping them open. She was so good in that scene. There was a subtlety to the scene that she clearly understood, and she was wonderful. As I said before, it was actually a good movie. Just don’t expect anything new.