The Holdovers (2024)

Alexander Payne returns to pastures greener with The Holdovers, which is ironic considering his last film, Downsizing (2017), looked to put the climate crisis to the forefront of people's minds. Unfortunately despite being half an interesting film, Downsizing's change of tack for its second half sent it cascading over the side of a rather large cliff, an act of self-flagellation that we're not used to from the director of one of the century's greatest films. And that film in question, Sideways (2004), had Payne addressing regret, depression and the past; something he returned to with The Descendants (2011) and Nebraska (2013) before shifting approach for Downsizing. There's a good reason Payne deals in such topics- his ability to weave comedy through story strands of struggling individuals and potentially depressing situations is second to none, and with The Holdovers he's produced his finest film since that 2004 masterpiece; and returns him to the location of a school, bringing back memories of another of his excellent works, 1999's Election. Paul Giamatti is Oscar worthy as unpopular teacher Paul Hunham who works at a New England elite academy, hating the students just as much as they hate him (we're introduced to the class in an early scene which is truly hilarious as he hands out graded exams, including one 'F+'), and as an ex-student himself not from a wealthy background, he loathes the rich kids who teachers are expected to pass simply because their parents donate to the school. This hatred leads to Paul being ordered to stay at the school over the Christmas holidays along with Cook Mary (a superb performance by Da'Vine Joy Randolph) who is grieving her son, recently killed in action whilst serving with the army. They're expected to look after the boys who are left at the school by their parents; a group of four is quickly whittled down to just one however, Angus; an absolutely terrific turn by newcomer Dominic Sessa. Angus has been abandoned by his Mum, who decides to take her late honeymoon over Christmas with Angus' new step-father, and it's clear from the outset that Angus sorely lacks a Father figure; a role that Paul is initially utterly unwilling to step into even if it is just for two weeks. Paul, Angus, and Mary slowly form a misshapen family unit over the course of the film, coming together in the same way Giamatti's Miles and Thomas Hayden Church's Jack drift apart in Sideways, and the comparisons between the two films don't stop there. Both Paul and Miles are failed writers, and both are just as disillusioned with life although at least Paul has the punchbag of his students to take out that frustration on, which he does to highly amusing consequence. The Holdovers is set in 1970, and Payne even plays out the opening credits in the style of the era, including the Universal logo which had me rubbing my hands together in the front row of Horsham Everyman. At times I was reminded of Jerry Schatzberg's Scarecrow (1973) with its whimsical and at times bleak outlook, and the mise en scène makes the film look like it was actually shot in 1970 (considering Payne's not produced a period piece before means the whole thing is even more astonishing). David Hemingson's script is packed with sharpness as well as consistent laughter ("You're penis cancer, in human form"), but you need the actors to deliver the lines and Giamatti, Joy Randolph and Sessa would all be Oscar worthy winners for their roles here, although Sessa has sadly been snubbed by the Academy. There's no chance The Holdovers will take Best Picture either, but the case for it doing so is lengthy and persuasive. Payne is an expert in having you in peals of laughter whilst you mull over some pretty sad content, he's up there with Martin McDonagh in this respect, and The Holdovers certainly delves into some fairly dark territory; Paul's seeming submission to a miserable existence, Mary's impossible struggle with the loss of her child, and Angus' abandonment by his own Mother. Paul is so bogged down by his own shortcomings and regrets that he fails to recognise kindness when it's offered; a female colleague who evidently thinks he's worth more than he does offers him a plate of biscuits in the opening scenes only for him to shut the door in her face as quickly as possible. His early exchanges with Mary are those of a man struggling to come to terms with having to interact with another human being he doesn't immediately look down upon. Mary herself goes about her days slowly, filling her spare time with TV and cooking in a hopeless attempt to free her mind from the horrific loss of her son. And Angus, despite being your classic cynical, 'world is against me' teenager, has been greatly affected by the loss of his Father; a loss that comes to the forefront in a truly glorious sequence in which the three of them travel to Boston to see the Christmas decorations, and turns into something else entirely. The way the three of them slowly become a unit is measured and affecting, and although the coming together of people who initially don't get on isn't a new idea, Payne's approach along with his actors leads it to being truly heartwarming because we both believe in the characters, and can almost certainly identify with one or all of their travails. In ten or twenty years time, we will be watching The Holdovers in the run up to Christmas- there's no doubting whatsoever it's a Christmas classic and you'd guess the reason it wasn't released during the festive season was to enhance its chances during awards season. It's a shame the way the industry seems to work in this way, because it shouldn't matter when Payne's film is released- it's good enough to take most of the awards on offer, and I say that knowing there's a strong list of contenders. But, fuck it, I'd be saying the same quite possibly in any year I can think of, The Holdovers is simply that good. By the time the final scenes of The Holdovers were upon me, I was already struggling to think of a year when a film that was released so early in a calendar year would be so difficult to chase down as my film of the year: and then Payne ends it with the most glorious, fantastic, and appropriate nod to Sideways that works so perfectly, that it quite possibly puts an end to the 'best film of 2024' debate not even a month in. Bravo. 9.1/10