Alexander Payne has had a pretty long and successful career as a filmmaker.  Directing such films as Election, The Descendants, and About Schmidt. He has worked with a star-studded array of actors and actresses in his time, such as Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, and Jack Nicholson among others. In his latest film, The Holdovers, he reteams with one of his past stars from Sideways, Paul Giamatti.  

Paul (Paul Giamatti) is a relatively grumpy old teacher at a prep school in New England called Barton Academy. He is fed up with the lack of caring or the ability to try and learn what is being taught in his classroom. When finally he gets what he believes to be a break from these stubborn wisecracking kids he’s glad. That is until he’s summoned to the headmaster’s office. He is informed that he must, for lack of a better word, babysit a handful of kids who can’t go home for the winter break. He has his hands full with one particular student Angus (Dominic Sessa)

Payne sets the film in the 70s and during winter so it has a distinctive look and feel to that era. It reminded me of growing up in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as a kid. The cars and clothes and long hair were straight out of a time machine. I loved seeing this world brought to life.  The production design was incredible by Ryan Warren Smith. It’s pretty cool to see a film get it right when it comes to the technical aspects of a movie like this one did.

They also have an amazing soundtrack that brought me back to the era of folk music from the ’60s and ’70s. Hearing Time Has Come Today by The Chamber Brothers, Silver Joy by Damien Jurado, and Venus by Shocking Blue brought me back to my childhood riding with my brothers in the car with our parents going on weekend car rides. Add in some of the Christmas songs and you have a great soundtrack for this film over the holiday season.

Payne recruited screenwriter David Hemington, mostly known for writing reality television,  to write the screenplay for this coming-of-age film about an unlikely relationship between this loner kid and his I’ll-tempered teacher. This story reminded me of a couple of my friends who were teachers and coaches when I went to high school and shortly afterward. Deep down they would do anything for me or another kid in need but on the outside, they were a bit jaded by society. Giamatti’s character is so spot on to so many men I have known over the past thirty years.

Giamatti as an actor has given some great performances in Sideways as the best friend who didn’t want to drink Merlot to the oddball comic book creator Harvey Pekar in American Splendor, the tough but gentle friend and corner man, Joe Gould, to Jim Braddock in Cinderella Man. He has had a great career but the role of the teacher who gets left behind by the principal of the school is the best role of his career. He has a false eye and uses that for laughs but brings every ounce of acting ability to this older gentleman trying to get through to this one kid in particular. He’s definitely  Academy Award Nomination worthy. Will he win that’s another question entirely.

Payne has dealt with this type of subject matter before with good results. Parental figures or influences such as Giamatti’s character are a theme of the kinds of stories he likes to tell. In these films, there is also a supporting cast that works well with the main characters. In this movie, Da’Vine Joy Randolph plays a cafeteria worker who was held over as well. She has her subplot that weaves into the main plot of the movie. We don’t care any less for it than the other story either. She brings an authenticity to this character which bolsters the rest of the cast. She is also Academy Awards worthy in the Supporting Actress category. 

The revelation in this film is Dominic Sessa as Angus. He brings a level of acting I’ve seen very rarely by young actors this year. The back-and-forth with Giamatti is amazing. They have great chemistry together. His ability to be an intelligent yet wisecracking teen borders on brilliant and amateurish. He comes across as a very new actor who hasn’t done this before in his life. That plays into the character that was written and works well off of the staunch teacher played by Giamatti.  They are terrific together in this movie.

The Holdovers was one of my most anticipated films coming out this awards season. It lived up to the hype and more. The cast is all stellar with Giamatti and Randolph giving awards-worthy performances.  The technical aspects were pretty incredible.  Payne and company made this movie look like it was actually taking place in the early 70s. From the clothes, cars, hairstyles, and all of the rest, the production design and cinematography were amazing. They even did opening credits that were authentic to the films of that era. The soundtrack was amazing as well. This movie brought me back to my childhood in many different ways. The best thing about this film is the story and the relationship between these two people. It took me back to my earlier years when I had a few mentors similar to Giamatt ‘s character. This is one of the best films of the year bar none.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen