Frankly, I have little to say about Alexander Payne’s THE HOLDOVERS. This is simply because I loved it so much.
THE HOLDOVERS, AKA the underdog of the award season, revolves around three main characters all bound by the confines of the same New England prep school. Troubled but brilliant student Angus (Dominic Sessa) is left behind by his mother who suddenly decides to spend the holidays with her new husband. His caretakers become the terse and solitude teacher Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) and the school’s hardened head cook, Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is grieving the loss of her son to the Vietnam War. While Mr. Hunham quickly befriends Mary, his relationship with pupil Angus is strenuous. Angus likens his circumstance to being held in a prison while Mr. Hunham doesn’t seem to have warmed up to a human student in centuries. It is a typical tale of “unlikely friends” set against the backdrop of the provocative Vietnam War.
I cannot say the film is revolutionary or even inspired. I can say, however, that it provides for viewers what its characters end up feeling by the end: warmth. Payne’s film has an undercurrent of gut wrenching emotions, his characters toiling with anguish, loss, anxiety, loneliness. And yet, these feelings are rather alleviated in the presence of commiserating comrades. At one point, Mr. Hunham discovers that Angus is medicated for his depression. Though Angus is embarrassed, it is revealed that Mr. Hunham takes the same medication. This is precisely the sort of bond that the two men share—they’re not the same people, not even cut from the same cloth, but their “otherness” emotionally binds them. At some point a harsh critic, Mr. Hunham becomes Angus’ champion, ultimately defying the boy’s mother to protect him. It’s a lovely familial bond born through Mr. Hunham’s careful guiding of Angus through early manhood. He teaches Angus to stand when Mary walks into the room. He teaches Angus to help her with her bags. Angus is already primed for these lessons because there is, actually, a gooey, chivalrous goodness under his troublemaking inclinations.
Many male coming of age films conspire to deal with humanity’s most valued virtues: honor, dignity, strength, intelligence. You’ll note that many of these virtues are particularly bestowed upon soldiers—our societies say that soldiers represent the bravest among us, the men who step up to defend their women, their country, their honor, and freedom. It should be interesting, then, that the political backdrop of the film is the Vietnam War—a costly event heavily protested by the American youth. What Payne does beautifully is highlight these incredible virtues in a young man whose privilege has allowed him to avoid the war. He is contrasted by Mary’s deceased son who was unable to afford anything but enlisting. This is highly fascinating to me for my own political, theoretical reasons. I just want to say that Payne has created something really tender, honorable, and beautiful with this film.
I do not think the film is perfect. In fact, I would even suggest that Dominic Sessa’s acting was, at times, a little inauthentic. The writing was also contrived, though the intention was to show the pretentious intelligence of students who succeed at the prep school. That’s fine, however. The film doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, if it was perfectly polished, I might have loved it less. Hey! That’s something I’ve never said in a film review before. I just mean to say that there’s something homemade about the film. Watching it felt like stumbling into a new family. Congratulations to Payne!
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