Per last weekend, Da’Vine Joy Randolph of The Holdovers (2023) is holding onto a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as her lead in the race to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. So far, the emerging star has swept the awards season with Golden Globe, Gold Derby, National Board of Review, Critics’ Choice, AACTA, BAFTA — and now SAG — wins for her portrayal of bereaved mother Mary Lamb.
It’s 1971 in the Alexander Payne dramedy and Mary is about to spend her first Christmas alone since her son was killed in the Vietnam War. As such, she plans to work through the holiday at Barton Academy where she’s a cafeteria manager and her friendly admirer (Naheem Garcia) is a custodian.
Also on the clock is the boarding school’s Ancient History teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). He’s been recruited to babysit the held-over students who have nowhere to go during the winter break. One of these “holdovers” is Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), an intelligent yet unpopular and troubled teen whose mother (Gillian Vigman) chooses to vacation sans son with her new husband (Tate Donovan).
In the days that lead up through Christmas and the new year, Mary, Paul and Angus learn to better know each other and themselves. It’s a feat easier said than done since they must open up and grow. For Mary, this means realizing her boy is gone forever. Yet her version of pressing ahead seems like a lateral move since she transfers the hopes she had for her son onto her nephew. Conversely, Paul and Angus get to enjoy greater arcs given the quirks and complexities screenwriter David Hemingson bestows on them.
The male leads are defined by their fully-fleshed-out flaws while the female characters are judged on how well they serve men. Mary is good because she’s sacrificed for her son. Angus’s mother is bad because she left her institutionalized first husband (Stephen Thorne). Pretty young teen Elise (Darby Lily Lee-Stack) exists to kiss Angus even though he shows little effort to earn her affection, and a prostitute (Melissa McMeekin) past her prime is comic fodder for Paul despite his lazy eye and fishy body odor. Alas, these imbalanced standards authentically reflect the social mores of the 1970s.
Greater care is given to Miss Lydia Crane (Carrie Preston), a woman Paul briefly fancies. She has a secretarial position at Barton and works as a waitress during her off time. In a masterfully-human scene, Lydia chats up Paul at her Christmas party. The warm hostess listens and supports him and touches his arm when she gets up to answer the door. Within a single shot, Giamatti’s facial expression goes from romantic hope via her encouragement to disappointment when he turns and sees Lydia welcoming a handsome guest (Mike Kaz) with a passionate kiss.
Less heartbreaking and more humorous visuals include a shot of a student’s paper marked F+, and one of Paul walking alone in the New England cold. He sees a football in the snow, picks it up and unathletically throws it, before marching on with pride. Such comical moments add to Giamatti’s layered portrayal and the film’s potential to become a holiday perennial.
In addition to the wardrobe and props departments which provide detailed re-creations from the era, the movie owes much of its retro atmosphere to Eigil Bryld’s cinematography. His ARRI Alexa Mini digital camera convincingly mimics the grainy celluloid from the 1970s, complete with faux scratch marks. Even a restaurant scene wherein Mary and Paul try to order underage Angus an alcohol-based Cherries Jubilee harkens back to the iconic diner exchange between Jack Nicholson and Lorna Thayer in Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces (1970).
Like David O. Russell’s American Hustle (2013) which incorporates the look of Hal Ashby’s Shampoo (1975) and Wes Anderson’s Rushmore (1998) which borrows from Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971), The Holdovers is reminiscent of Ashby’s coming-of-age dramedy The Last Detail (1973). There’s no question Payne appropriates ’70s cinema to enhance his film. But its ultimate success depends on how much audiences respond to the three main characters. Of course, having an Oscar winner in the cast certainly helps.
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Janet Arvia will discuss The Holdovers, Barbie, Poor Things, and other Oscar contenders with Gary Zidek this Sunday 3/05 during The Arts Section at 8 -9am on WDCB 90.9 & 90.7 FM.