(Note: There are no significant spoilers in the following reflection on “The Holdovers” that aren’t revealed or implied in the film’s trailer.)
I have no emotional investment in the long-running debate over whether “Die Hard” is a Christmas film. I generally fall on the side that says if the story takes place during Christmastime, it’s a Christmas film, regardless of whether the holidays are central to the plot. But I can respect the counterarguments and am happy being a bystander when the screaming over the subject ensues during parties.
I suspect “The Holdovers” will be the subject of similar, albeit less intense, debates about its placement within the great U.S. Christmas Film canon. If it is, I will metaphorically die on the proverbial hill that it not only belongs there, it belongs near the top.
Set in Barton Academy, an all-boys New England boarding school in the early 1970s, “The Holdovers” tells the story of students who, for various reasons, were stuck on campus during the holiday break with a curmudgeonly classics teacher left to watch over them.
The plot eventually narrows to focus on the teacher, Paul Hunham, who is hated by students and faculty alike; Angus Tully, an awkward, angry student; and Mary Lamb, the school cook tasked with feeding the holdovers.
Each backstory explaining why each holdover is left behind makes the film equal parts character study and historical commentary.
Angus, played brilliantly by newcomer Dominic Sessa, learns as he prepares to go home that his mom and her new husband have planned an impromptu honeymoon, leaving Angus stranded at Barton for the holidays. Already grieving the loss of his dad, this sends him into an emotional tailspin.
Paul, the widely disliked teacher played by Paul Giamatti, lands the role of holiday caretaker by colleagues who leverage the system and his least-favored status among the campus community.
Because of her life situation, Mary is the only person on campus with a neutral view of Paul.
Mary’s story of being left behind is revealed in segments, the first appearing in the film’s early scenes. During an end-of-the-year chapel service, the camera focuses on pictures of “Barton Men” who have lost their lives in military service. All except one were casualties of World War II. The one who died during the Vietnam War was a young black man, Mary’s son.
Mary is played by comedic actor Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who is already receiving early Oscar buzz.
These three stories paint distinctly different pictures of being left behind or forgotten.
One is a picture of the toll family dysfunction takes on children.
Another is about maladjusted adults falling into comfortable rhythms of loneliness.
The other is an indictment of the unjust social systems, particularly ones that picked winners and losers during the Vietnam War, that destroyed the lives of those who lacked status and privilege.
As an aside, I don’t think it is insignificant that the last name of Mary and her son was “Lamb.”
Despite these contrasting stories, each leaves a character far removed from the vision they once had of their lives.
Director Alexander Payne sets these three narratives on a collision course with each other to create an unlikely community of misfits. But it never falls into the trap of sentimentality.
“The Holdovers” is not “Dead Poets Society.” All its characters remain deeply flawed at the end of the film. Though there is a heroic turn in the story, there are no heroes in the conventional sense of the word.
What there are, instead, are fleeting moments where characters see each other for who they are, not what their situations have made them appear to be.
And this is why “The Holdovers” is unquestionably a Christmas movie. Ultimately, it is a story about being seen in the darkness.
What is more Christmas than that?
Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.
