Review of The Holdovers

midlandsmovies • January 12, 2024

The Holdovers (2024) Dir. Alexander Payne


Standout performances from Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph anchor this fantastic comedy-drama set over the festive period at a New England boarding school.


Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a strict classics tutor disliked by teachers and students alike, and it's the young men's unruly behaviour and spoilt entitlement that is fueled by the approaching Christmas holidays. However, a number of them become “holdovers”, staying at the school during the break, and after losing the school an important and wealthy donor, Hunham is forced to babysit them until it reopens in the new year.


Each day the students wake early, do laps in the snow and undertake silent studying in the library, all orchestrated by Hunham as a kind of educational Scrooge. Entrusted to look after the empty school, Hunham roams around rooms and corridors at night like Jack Torrance in The Shining, showing a loneliness under his harsh public veneer.


Yet a saviour arrives from the heavens (via helicopter) in the form of one of the boys' rich father who whisks the kids off to a ski resort. And whilst everyone exits excitedly, Angus Tully (a fantastic Dominic Sessa) is left with Hunham after not being able to get permission from his mum.


Upsetting the boy, his tantrum in a gym results in a dislocated shoulder but this leads to Hunham uncovering deeper cracks within the boy's family situation. Tully and Hunham then join forces to lie about the cause of his injury to avoid an insurance claim that will get both in trouble, thus beginning a thaw in the two’s relationship.


After attending a party they consistently butt heads, but even-handed school cook Mary (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) helps smooth their differences leading to a Christmas Day meal and an off-the-books trip to Boston. And although the 'cantankerous teacher learning life lessons from a student' isn’t the most original idea, it’s done incredibly well here with humorous interactions and great performances from the entire cast.


As Hunham and Tully bond, they slowly discover naked truths about each other. Both feel the other has undeserved entitlement yet the film does a great job of revealing their darker personal backgrounds - not just through great dialogue but also quieter, more sombre, moments.


Tully’s reasons for not being with his family, somewhat the source of his overly cruel jibes, are teased out by Hunham who is hiding a number of personal bottled-up secrets himself. The home truths that are shared and push each other beyond their comfortable boundaries as they open up and admit to their vulnerabilities.


It’s an emotional and satisfying journey that starts out with two people very cold in spirit (and in temperature) who have their frozen hearts somewhat warmed by the end.


A cliched father-son dynamic does permeate throughout, but the film’s focus on serious issues like mental health, depression and surrogate families add copious layers of depth. Mary’s story of her child’s death is incredibly well handled in a sensitive and wholly believable performance from Da'VineJoy Randolph. Together they infuse a combination of heart and pathos that sure helps overcome any familiar tropes.


Giamatti’s surrogate though is the glue holding it together. Although he is only as good as his support cast who match him every step of the way. As the two’s journey heads to the new year, a final twist in the tale will leave audiences with a certain bittersweet moment to end on


And in the end, Payne’s stoic direction focuses the film firmly on the actors who are phenomenal throughout and the brilliant work from everyone in The Holdovers ensures the tears flow as much as the titters in an unlikely Christmas miracle of a film.


★★★★½


4.5 / 5


Michael Sales

By midlandsmovies April 26, 2025
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer  Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/
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