The Holdovers

 

In Alexander Payne's hilariously tender The Holdovers, a curmudgeonly ancient civilization teacher (Paul Giamatti) spars with his equally dyspeptic teenaged counterpart (Dominic Sessa) in a boarding school over the two-week Christmas break in 1970, when the two of them and the school's kitchen supervisor (Da'vine Joy Randolph) spend the holidays together.

The characters, lovingly crafted by seasoned television writer David Hemingson, are managing personal trauma that they reveal over the course of the fortnight with spirited good and bad humor and the occasional tear.

Payne, who doesn't make a lot of movies but his pictures are always on the money, precisely captures enduring moments that are meaningful because the frailties and fears on display are so familiar to us. All three of the movie's principals -- Giamatti, Randolph and Sessa in his first movie role -- are so immersed in their characters' skins that the parts feel tailor-made.

Giamatti is a frequent Payne collaborator; his monologue on the pinot grape in 2004's Sideways is a cinematic moment for the ages, because of the actor's nuanced reading and the pure poetry of the passage. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCS1Gnwbtp0)

Holdovers has several captivating scenes and Giamatti, who is on camera for most of the film's running time, delivers a performance that will undoubtedly be celebrated for quite a while.