The Holdovers

Of all of the delayed UK releases, The Holdovers may be the most affected in terms of box-office take, down to the fact that it is, ostensibly, a Christmas movie.

Hopefully, this is not the case and its stack of Oscar nominations may just give it the shot in the arm it thoroughly deserves.

Because, rest assured, this is so much more than ‘just’ a ‘Christmas film.' The quote marks are important there because I don’t want to devalue the ‘holiday film’ as a genre and, also, because what The Holdovers has to say about the season, and ourselves, is especially poignant.

Like Christmas itself, this film is unremittingly joyous in spite of everything.

We follow three lonely and tremendously sad individuals, moored at a boarding school over the festive break with cold, snowy vistas breaking up the brown and sepia seventies setting.

Alcoholism, depression and loss are key themes and each character may not even end up truly happy by the time the credits roll.

But what these interactions prove, and what Alexander Payne so masterfully presents to the viewer, is that we, despite however different we may seem, are all so much alike.

That the human spirit, with just a little coaxing, can always come roaring to the surface and just how much difference one act, one person, one thought, one feeling, one sentence can make to another.

The three central performances here are astounding. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is tipped for an Oscar for Supporting Actress and newcomer(!) Dominic Sessa is hard done by not to be talked about more for awards contention.

Paul Giamatti though, in another winning link-up with Payne, soars in an absolutely masterful portrayal. Having to play the ‘Scrooge/Grinch’ role as the curmudgeonly stick-in-the-mud academic but always giving a glint of the soul beneath. Just a look is enough at points to make your eyes glisten.

I don’t want to say more for fear of ruining what is, like many of Payne’s previous films (and also those of the similar Richard Linklater) an absolutely heart-warming, talky drama that will leave you beaming.

An anytime-of-the-year classic.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️