The new dramedy tells the story of a curmudgeonly professor and his trouble-making student staying at a boarding school during the holiday break.
What makes a movie a Christmas classic?
The question immediately brings Buddy from “Elf” helping Santa lift off after crashing in Central Park to mind; George Bailey celebrating with his family around the tree at the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life;” or the infamous scene of Kevin reuniting with his family at the end of “Home Alone.”
These classic Christmas movie scenes are united in their celebration of family, love and the warm feelings of the holiday season.
“The Holdovers,” however, examines feelings of loneliness, loss and grief. Yet the 2023 film is already being heralded as one of the best Christmas movies ever by some critics.
The film, directed by Alexander Payne, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023.
“The Holdovers” strives to be a different kind of Christmas classic. Not one you visit every year or watch while you put up your Christmas tree, but one you watch while grieving a loved one or spending Christmas alone.
The film takes place in an isolated boarding school in New England during the Christmas season of 1970. The titular “holdovers” are boys who stay at the school during the holiday because they have nowhere else to go.
Paul Giamatti plays the film’s main protagonist, Paul Hunham, a curmudgeonly teacher who remains deeply angry about his past. Dominic Sessa plays Angus Tully, Paul’s most trouble-making student who has to stay at the school after his mother and stepfather choose the break to go on their honeymoon. Da’Vine Joy Randolph rounds out the trio as Mary Lamb, the school’s main cook who is grieving the loss of her son in the Vietnam War.
Giamatti and Sessa have an effortless comedic chemistry that helps to keep the character’s frequent bickering from feeling exhausting. Their interactions often help to bring a sense of fun to the film, helping to give it more street-cred as a Christmas classic.
However, this film’s true comedic MVP is Da’Vine Joy Randolph. She delivers every joke with an assured sense of personality and character that continually reminds the audience how endearing she is. Even with a screenplay that’s incredibly sharp and precise, she manages to turn every joke into a joke-and-a-half.
The dialogue helps to keep the comedy from feeling unessential to the plot. Rather, it uses humor to flesh out the characters and help to keep the themes of grief and loss in the film from feeling too laborious or unbearable.
The dialogue expertly uses each character to dissect a different part of loss. With Mary, it dives into the loss of a family member. Angus’ story helps to articulate the feeling of losing someone while they’re still alive. Paul’s storyline, the most moving of the three, portrays the path for someone moving on from a past they feel was stolen from them.
All of these characters represent different parts of what can make the Christmas season, and life in general, feel painful. Yet, the film never feels like it’s simply checking boxes off a grief checklist. Rather, it crafts a very holistic portrait of the human condition.
Strangely enough, it will likely be watched in a way similar to another Christmas classic, “Love Actually.” While wildly different in tone and content, both offer different characters that represent a unique aspect of the films’ themes, love and grief. “The Holdovers”, like “Love Actually,” is a film people will watch during different periods of their lives and find themselves relating to a different character than before.
Yet, despite tackling three different experiences in-depth, all three characters feel equally real and lived-in. This is aided by the three masterclass performances at the film’s core, as well as the film’s general aesthetic.
The film manages to look like a film from the 1970s, not just a film in the 70s. In fact, while the film was shot on a digital camera, it was given artificial grain and scratches to make it look like it was shot on old-fashioned film. The script, cinematography style, editing and production design all add to a finely calibrated retro look and style that helps to immerse the viewer in the time and place of the film.
“The Holdovers” ultimately ends with a realistic and inevitable conclusion that still feels incredibly satisfying. It’s hopeful without feeling unearned. It’s truthful but not exhausting. But more than anything, it feels like a warm embrace and an acknowledgment of the sadness in life that not even Christmas can fully heal.
“The Holdovers,” by design, isn’t going to be a yearly staple. Yet, by subverting this aspect of the holiday genre, it becomes a greater version of itself. A film you return to without a plan. Something undeniably fresh, something potentially classic.
Edited by Annie Goldman | agoldman@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com