Tag Archives: Alexander Payne

The Holdovers

The Holdovers is funny. AND it has loads of genuine humanity. Once the film’s situation is set up, you’re likely to guess how things might turn out. But getting there is, as they say, half the fun. Go see this movie!

Paul Hunham, the main character in The Holdovers, is a person I (and, presumably, you as well) would not like in real life. But because this unlikable schlub is played by the great Paul Giamatti, well, you figure from the outset that he might have some redeeming values.

He’s a teacher at a residential private boys school in New England in 1970. He is not popular with his students nor with the school’s leadership. As the boys get ready for Christmas break he saddles them with homework. And when break begins, he’s the one faculty member tapped to supervise the few who are not headed home for the holidays. They are the holdovers.

Soon several of the young men are whisked away in a wealthy parent’s helicopter, leaving Hunham with just one student, the angsty Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) along with the school’s cook Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

The forced interactions between Hunham and Tully lead to a series of episodes on and off campus, some with other school staff and townies. Mary Lamb is mourning the recent loss of her son in Vietnam. Her interplay with the two men becomes a bigger part of the story than is signaled early on.

Through their time in close quarters with one another, portions of their backstories are revealed, some with surprising details. Without tipping too much of the story line, there are risks taken by each of the three that bring about, um, interesting outcomes.

This performance ranks among Paul Giamatti’s best and he is an actor who has played numerous memorable roles. My wife and I enjoyed Randolph as a sassy police detective in Only Murders In The Building. And Sessa is a rookie in his first movie appearance!

The Holdovers is directed by Alexander Payne who also directed two of my favorite films, The Descendants and Nebraska. Sideways (also with Giamatti) and Election are also highlights of his resumé. The original screenplay is by David Hemingson. It is rated R for language.

(The film’s wintry setting has helped me get ready for some snowfall. And credit to all concerned for avoiding any anachronisms. It looks like 1970.)

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Nebraska

Nebraska is one of the year’s best movies and Bruce Dern gives one of the year’s best performances. Huge credit goes to screenwriter Bob Nelson and director Alex Payne for their story, their characters and their settings.

If you’ve ever heard or read about Garrison Keillor’s fictional Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, or if you have spent time in a rural plains community, you’ll recognize many of the people and places in Nebraska.

Hawthorne, the town in Nebraska where much of the movie takes place, has both Lutheran and Catholic churches, plenty of bars and large plots of farmland surrounding the town. It’s the hometown of Woody Grant (Dern) and his wife Kate (June Squibb). They live in Billings, Montana now.

The journey to Nebraska begins when Woody gets a letter in the mail naming him the winner of a million dollars. He wants to go to Lincoln, Nebraska to cash it in. Woody’s son David (Will Forte) finally agrees to drive his dad from Billings to Lincoln. After an accident slows them down, they decide to stop in Hawthorne and spend the weekend with Woody’s brother and his family.

Kate and David’s brother Ross (Bob Odenkirk) also head over to Hawthorne and a family reunion of sorts gets underway. Old memories are recalled. Will runs into his former business partner and town blowhard Ed Pegram (Stacy Keach) who stirs up old turmoil. David learns things about his family that he never knew.

A favorite scene is a cemetery visit where tombstones elicit memories of past family members, friends, lovers and enemies. (I lived a version of that scene in my own life in 2009 with a visit to Gully, Minnesota, where my father-in-law and many more of my wife’s relatives are buried.) A visit to the old abandoned homestead brings back memories, some unhappy, for Woody.

Nebraska has several side characters that add spark to the film, especially David’s two cousins who are hilarious. Woody’s brother Ray, incidentally, is played by Rance Howard, father of Ron “Opie” Howard.

Director Alexander Payne shot Nebraska in black and white, which is perfect for showcasing a town that probably looks about the same as it did 50 years ago. He punctuates the film with lingering shots of plains landscapes, which communicate the sense of being in the middle of nowhere.

Dern won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and is a likely candidate for an Oscar nomination. His character appears to be simple, but is revealed to be complex, with demons and resentments that have haunted him for a lifetime. Dern should be ever grateful to Payne and Nelson for handing him such a wonderful role, especially at this point in his life. He’s 77.

84-year-old June Squibb brings spunk to her role as the wife who has endured much during her marriage to Woody. She should also be mentioned in awards conversations.

Nebraska is engaging on many levels, but mainly for capturing true human emotion. I highly recommend you see this film and, if they’re still around, take your parents and grandparents.

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