Christmas movies have had a spotty track record of quality over their long history of existence, to say the least. For every “Charlie Brown Christmas” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” there are about four dozen films at the level of “Homeless for the Holidays.” I can’t think of a modern holiday movie from the past few years that lives up to the title of “classic,” but if there is any film to turn into one for the future, it is most certainly Alexander Payne’s latest flick, “The Holdovers.”
I walked into the theater to see “The Holdovers” without any prior knowledge of Payne’s filmography or style. All I knew about the movie was that it starred Paul Giamatti and that it was a comedy. From the start my mind jumped to making “Dead Poets Society” comparisons due to the setting being that of a mid-twentieth century New England boarding school, and the central teacher-student focus of the plot. However, within 20 minutes it was clear that “The Holdovers” was a unique and delightful work all of its own.
As just alluded to, the film is about the curmudgeonly and old-school classics professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) and his relationships with the eccentric, literate, and sardonic student Angus Tully (Carnegie Mellon’s own, Dominic Sessa), and the kind yet grieving school cook Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), whose son recently died in the Vietnam War. Hunham is begrudgingly forced to take on the duty of looking after the students who are left at school over Christmas break — a group which shortly turns into solely Angus after the rest leave for a rather frivolous ski trip. What follows is a series of hilarious escapades, clashing attitudes and genuine heartfelt moments. Despite their major generational differences, the two grow an understanding of each other and of Ms. Lamb, and eventually form a genuine bond.
So what makes “The Holdovers” my contender for a contemporary classic? After all, there are plenty of movies about opposing figures finding common ground. First, “The Holdovers” is aesthetically wonderful and a breath of fresh, unique air in the Christmas movie landscape. Tudor school halls, impeccable sweaters, and Mr. Hunham’s silly fedora are the visual language of Payne’s film. It also has an authenticity to its emotional story that cannot be said for many Christmas films of the past few decades. As a Letterboxd review from James I read more or less put it: “there’s a handshake in this that feels more emotional than 90% of hugs in movies”. There also isn’t any cliché talk of “the meaning of Christmas,” and the holiday spirit isn’t suddenly shoehorned in as the true hero all along as it is in more than a few Hallmark movies. “The Holdovers” tells a warm, touching story of lost souls coming together amid the lighting of a short, scraggly, yet kindly Christmas tree.
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