Reviewing Alexander Paynes’ The Holdovers (2023)

Dominic Sessa (left) and Paul Giamatti (right) in a scene from The Holdovers.

Written by Brody Sandler & Dawood Syed

The Holdovers is a film made by Alexander Payne in 2023, already having been hailed as a standard of the prep school story genre over the past few years. The movie follows the relationship between Paul Hunham, a classics teacher at Barton Academy, and Angus Tully, who has been left behind over Christmas break while his mother goes on vacation with her new husband; also staying over is Mary Lamb, the head cook at the academy whose son has recently been killed in the Vietnam War. Over the course of their time together, the three forge bonds based on their collective grief and apathy in a time of loss and solitude. 

The film is powered by a nostalgic ensemble that platforms Soul and folk of the mid 20th century, prominently featuring the works of Labi Siffre, Allman Brothers Band, The Temptations, and Yusuf Stevens. Music defines this film in many ways, producing its most memorable and touching moments, with the credits rolling to a rendition of Labi Siffre’s Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying. One of the reasons for this is that the filmmaker Alexander Payne specifically sought to create a classic atmosphere, using post-production techniques to make it look like it was shot on film, and various camera techniques (zoom and aspect ratios) to make it more authentically “70s”. 

Actor Dominic Sessa, who plays Angus Tully in the film, was discovered during on-site casting at Deerfield Academy, where most of the film’s exterior shots were captured. Sessa perfectly captures the essence of the Boarding School student, morphing into a Barton man on screen. 

Doubtless, the film picks many of its themes from pre-existing media surrounding the boarding school experience. One of the most popular movies of the last century, The Dead Poets Society, certainly seems to be prevalent in the academic undertones, troubles of communal living, and trauma of the main characters as exposed in The Holdovers. Another important influence seems to be J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, which especially figures itself in the familial traumas which dominate Payne’s film, especially as immersed in a stifling context of tradition and supposed maturity in a postwar society. Both Tully and Caulfield are lost young people that must come to terms with familial loss, stifled every step of the way by their disillusionment with a society they can’t understand. The movie also bears similarities to 2002’s The Emperors Club, fueled by the touching relationship between Sessa and Giamatti’s characters.

The film closed with 5 oscar nominations, seeing Da’vine Joy Randolph win Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mary Lamb. It has been praised as an enduring classic, a new addition to the core Christmas rotation.