The Holdovers

When I was at UCLA Film School we always talked about Alexander Payne with such reverence. One of us. Who broke out to make real films. Films that mattered and dealt with human emotion. And that could make you laugh out loud. But we never felt he had a sense of grandeur. Alexander Payne would come back to his alma mater. Talk to the students. Give them editing notes on their films. His legacy was also that he cared. In The Holdovers, Payne taps Paul Giamatti for the second time and they, like in Sideways, cover ground that is esoteric, of the elite, yet somehow completely relatable to anyone. 

I grew up in a large East coast city in the United States, with a huge immigrant population, to which my family was one. When I chose a liberal arts college in Western Massachusetts, I don’t even think that odd was the first word out of peoples’ mouths. And at this small school I met a certain type of person I had never met before. The sons and daughters of business magnates who had shipped their kids off to boarding schools. I’m not here to judge because I know that at least some of those kids are proud of their schools and have made lifelong friends. Even go back to visit! But for some of the others, anyone could tell that it was also a slow motion wound, the pain of forced separation from home and family. What I really learned firsthand was that in life, just coming from money isn’t everything. What I love about The Holdovers is that it reveals how: rich people are people too, the workers at the school are people too, nerds are people too, jocks are people too, exchange students are people too, teachers are people too and even parents, yes parents, are people too. Who’s not a person? The headmaster. That would be bridge too far. As the song goes, “Belligerent ghouls / Run Manchester schools / Spineless swines / Cemented minds.” And there is a very great zinger towards the end of the film that I won’t ruin for you. 

The Holdovers seems like a film I may have worked on in my own Hollywood career. Or even a very well done UCLA film. And I mean that as a high compliment. It’s a natural and raw film. Of course, there are things in the film that happen that would never happen in a totally low budget film. Again, it’s not about the whiz-bang or dazzling you with spandex outfits while zooming towards the cosmic horizon of outer space. It’s a 1970s period piece shot in a 1970s style, right down to the zoom lens. It leaps off the foundation of films like Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, (which if you have never seen, please go watch immediately) and more particularly, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Harold and Maude. There is also a cameo by The Newlywed Game. 

The Holdovers is a holiday film, with all the baggage that implies. It takes on difficult topics, in ways that seem familiar but are actually original. It dives deep into the lives of its characters but at its core, it’s a buddy movie. And it’s about how change is not just scary and inevitable but also necessary for growth. If you’d like to see a film that has some teeth, with great performances, that’s not above a fart joke and that if you’ve read this far I’m sure you’ll enjoy, check out The Holdovers.