A new ’70s classic
THE HOLDOVERS
Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Carrie Preston, Andrew Garman, Tate Donovan, Gillian Vigman, Brady Hepner, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Ian Dolley, Naheem Garcia
Rating: (M) ★★★★+
Early in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers (Rialto), Paul Giamatti says of himself, when asked why he never married, that ‘‘this is not exactly a face forged for romance’’. He likens himself to a monk, preferring, he says, to forgo sensual pleasures in the pursuit of spiritual goals.
The joke is that he’s not really trying to convince anyone, or even himself, but that he believes this is truly his fate. Granted, he appears on the surface to be perfectly content, or at least as happy as a cantankerous, bourbonloving classics professor at a boarding school for rich kids could possibly be.
The Holdovers takes place over a few wintry weeks in Massachusetts during the Christmas of 1970, when everyone leaves for the holidays except for a handful of holdover students with nowhere else to go, and one unlucky teacher chosen to stay behind and supervise them.
Giamatti’s character is selected as punishment for failing the son of a wealthy donor, and the film basically proceeds to mine as much bittersweet comedy as is possible from this simple setup.
Payne and Giamatti struck gold almost 20 years ago with the nowclassic Sideways ,and their reteaming is just as hilarious and wellobserved as before.
But the icing on the cake is its gorgeous faux’70s aesthetic, with fake scratches and camera judder, a brownish colour palette and a monaural soundtrack, giving it the feel of a longlost New Hollywood entry from circa 1971. It’s implemented beautifully and The Holdovers is a beautiful film.