#5: The Holdovers
Release Date: October 27th, 2023
Format: Theater (AMC Rolling Hills 20 in Torrance, CA)
Written by: David Hemingson
Directed by: Alexander Payne
4 Stars
Fish in a barrel. The Holdovers is taking a machine gun to them.
Alexander Payne is tailor-made for this material and he is masterful. Payne gets to deal with the pathos of loss, aging, regret, fear, and a final brave act of redemption, motifs he’s explored in my favorite movies of his, such as About Schmidt, Sideways, and Nebraska. This is Mann making a crime movie or Cassavettes portraying marriage. There are certain directors who speak deeply in a certain cinematic language. Payne’s language is dramedies about older men confronted with the stark reality of what their life actually is versus what they imagine it to be, and finding a way to make peace with that disparity.
And not only is Payne pitching a perfect game, but he has Paul Giamatti batting clean-up. It’s my favorite Giamatti performance, his previous being Miles in Sideways. I love how Giamatti’s character, Mr. Hunham, is infused with humanity and understanding, not anger, which is typical for this type of character. He wants his student Angus to live up to his potential, a potential that Hunham never achieved for himself. That’s not to say that Hunham isn’t an asshole. He is. But immediately in the opening scene you find yourself laughing with Hunham, not at him, as he caustically grades his students’ papers in his tiny apartment. He’s pathetic, and you love him. It’s a perfect merging of actor and performance and character.
I had never seen Dominic Sessa in anything, nor Da’Vine Joy Randolph. I’m not sure how two relatively new performers can meet a director and actor at their artistic peaks, but they do. It’s incredible. I can’t say that their characters affected me any less than Giamatti’s.
The Holdovers is what I call a “movie movie.” What I mean by that is that it exists in a comfortable - not safe - but comfortable creative space. Forrest Gump is a movie movie. Shawshank Redemption is a movie movie. They are broad enough in their appeal and their themes to speak to a large audience, but are sometimes perceived as too safe. Some people like to hate on “movie movies.” I think The Holdovers is a movie movie in the best possible way.
