Moving Pictures Movie Review: The Holdovers
Column
by Mo Burford
Dear readers, it has been a year for big movies by big directors, and while that may usually be my kind of thing, they haven’t been my kind of movies. Instead, my favorite moviegoing experiences this year have often been smaller films. These movies more often surprised me with their depth and the quality of filmmaking, and I don’t think I was more surprised by any movie this year than The Holdovers. I found its initial trailer to be off-putting (I’m just about done watching trailers!), but decided to give it a try anyway after being letdown by several big movies that were out. And I couldn’t have been happier to be wrong! The Holdovers is a throwback to 70’s filmmaking—from the 70’s title cards and MPAA rating card, to the warm film grain, to the soundtrack—and a time capsule not just for a bygone era, but a bygone era for films like this.
Movies like The Holdovers seldom get made any longer: an acclaimed director working with a smaller budget getting to make exactly the movie they want. While thinking about The Holdovers I couldn’t help being reminded of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, a movie of similar scope, however different in theme, setting and genre. These films existed in the 70’s where directors could negotiate money from studios in between larger projects to produce smaller films that centered around their interests at the time, and we are now at such a loss without those movies.
However, we are lucky this year to get Alexander Payne’s latest film, a funny, sweet and surprising film with characters of real substance and depth. The interplay between a three main characters stranded at this boarding school over the holiday—the acerbic professor played by Paul Giamatti, the grieving mother played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and the troubled student played by Dominic Sessa— begins as a standard tug-of-war between archetypal characters but slowly morphs in the film as we begin to peel back the onion layers of each to find the real their real beating heart. I was deeply moved by the way the film handled large themes like grief and race and mental illness, while still maintaining nuance and humor in each of the characters.
And on top of all that mastery and joy, the film is masterfully shot and exquisitely acted. Do yourself kindness this holiday and seek out this movie.
★★★★1/2
(four and a half stars)
The Holdovers is now playing that Skylight Cinemas and other theaters.
Questions, comments, movie suggestions? Email Mo at movingpicturesccc@gmail.com
For more reviews and to see his up-to-date movie log, follow Mo at Letterboxd
