Only a year later, ‘The Holdovers’ is already a Christmas classic

By Hollin Thigpen20 December at 11:00 UTC • 6 minutes

The term “instant classic” is sometimes used too loosely for movies. (Someone, somewhere just saw Moana 2 and thought, “Wow, now this is a movie theater.”) But some movies deserve such recognition, and as the weather gets colder—and the time-honored tradition of watching movies slightly laced with eggnog reaches its peak appeal—I can think of a film that has truly earned its place as a celebratory feast. That’s right what I’m talking about Holdovers.

Alexander Payne’s 1970s period piece about a young prep school teacher (Paul Giamatti) and the precocious student he’s stuck looking after over Christmas break (Dominic Sessa) was immediately canonized upon its wide release in November 2023. Critics called it “the ideal annual holiday return visit” and “a sad Christmas classic.”

A year later, the mood is still strong. Despite its short lifespan, the film already feels synonymous with holiday warmth and comfort. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a cup of steamed milk or a Burl Ives Christmas album: the perfect thing to throw on when there are cookies in the oven and ugly sweater parties on the horizon. It’s no wonder fans are already itching for a reunion. (An early snow and that first day of December was, among other events, considered evidence of the official start of “Holdovers Season.”)

“It’s the kind of movie that felt like it had always been there,” says Reggie Uwu, a New York Times culture reporter, who spoke with Giamatti last year about his experience making the film. “The whole aesthetic of it makes it feel like an artifact, even though it was shot in 2022.”

As Payne said in an interview last year“To some extent I’ve been trying to make ’70s movies my whole career. but on (Holdovers), I tried to take it a step further and to some degree create the illusion that it was actually made in the 70s.”

The result is a delightfully meticulous recreation of the era’s culture and motifs. “It feels wistful,” says Uwu. “This more analog time — a time before the Internet — it’s a time when people were forced to talk to each other, and it’s easy to feel nostalgic for that.”

Really, Holdovers leans on that sense of nostalgia to cement a place in an objectively packed holiday movie landscape. This year alone, Hallmark is published over 30 Christmas movies. On top of that Holdovers must compete with the enduring staples of the genre. We’re talking Will Ferrell in a pointy hat, Jimmy Stewart pleading with angels, a leg lamp covered in fishnet stockings. But where Holdovers stands out is how it captures the pervasive feeling of Christmas nostalgia without adding any glossy hilarity.

Interviews with the creators of ‘The Holdovers’

Interviews with the creators of ‘The Holdovers’

“The ’70s was the first time people became cynical—questioning a lot of things that had always been accepted,” says Maureen Lenker, senior writer at Weekly entertainment. “Right now we’re in a period where a lot of popular stuff is set in the 1970s and people gravitate towards that period. And I don’t know if that’s because it’s our parents’ time or because of parallels between our modern world , but probably a mixture of those things.”

By combining wistful memories of the decade—wood paneling, tiny TVs, even a sexy little Chevy II Nova—with more sober, timeless themes, Holdovers feels at once familiar and pleasantly detached. It is the rare film that lets us appreciate and even aestheticize the past without looking at it with rosy hindsight.

For younger generations, there is comfort in knowing that earlier cohorts had their own fair share of uncertainty and upheaval. IN Holdoversthe specter of Vietnam painfully haunts Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), whose son died in combat—he was unable to receive a reprieve like his wealthier (whiter) Barton Academy peers. Sessa’s character, Angus, has a troubling relationship with his father, illustrating changing conversations around depression and mental health treatment. Meanwhile, Giamatti’s character, Paul, begins to reckon with his own outdated ideas and routines and slowly dips his toes into the loosened social norms of the 70s.

The film doesn’t ignore the faults of the decade, exploring themes of race and class through the gritty world of its ragtag characters. “It has more of a social conscience than you typically see with movies from or around this decade,” says Uwu. “A little more attention to what was actually set in the 1970s.” While Payne shows his characters’ moments of triumph and determination, he’s also not afraid to capture the inherent sadness of their circumstances. The joy of Christmas doesn’t erase their breakup.

Unlike other holiday classics, Holdovers is not a family story – at least not in the traditional sense. Paul, Mary and Angus are all estranged from their “real” families in different ways and as a result come to form their own temporary family. “This is a group of people forced together, and in a school setting. It’s not really something we’ve seen in this genre,” says Lenker.

The film embraces the concept of found family in all its imperfections, subtly conveying the growing love that underlines the characters’ interactions and impromptu holiday celebrations. Even Paul’s gift of Meditations of Marcus Aurelius to both Angus and Mary is a surprisingly serious example of the characters’ developing bond. Paul is woefully ignorant of his companions’ indifference to Stoic philosophy, but that he even attempts to connect with them in this way is evidence of a change in his character; a softening of his attitude towards their shared relationship. “For my money, it’s like the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita all rolled into one,” he tells Angus. This is Paul’s expression of affection, and even in Angus’ confused response (“OK … thank you”) we sense that he also recognizes this gesture as an olive branch.

Also important, Holdovers appeals to all age groups and captures the experiences of several generations with equal care and complexity. “It’s a really hard balance to strike, and this film does it,” says Uwu. “It takes its characters seriously and it doesn’t dump the emotion.” Fifteen-year-old Angus’ struggles are treated with as much credibility as Paul’s or Mary’s; his rebellious angst and complicated family life are portrayed – through Sessa’s moving performance and Payne’s direction – with empathy and understanding.

Nate Carlson, who designed the stunning retro studio logos shown at the start of the film, says it was important to him to capture the universality of the film in these designs, which immediately immerse the audience in its time-warping atmosphere while still feeling new. (Miramax, unsurprisingly, loved theirs.)

“I’m a child of the ’70s myself, so the aesthetic of that era is ingrained in me, and it was captured so perfectly in the film,” says Carleson. “I wanted to be true to that (in the designs), but also make it so that a younger audience could also appreciate it. It has resonated with a wide audience, and I’m grateful for that.”

To Holdovers is at once so nostalgic and so universal is a testament to Payne’s love of his medium; he understands that a film can embody a period without mindless devotion to it. “Something that sets the film apart (is) it has a bittersweet ending … it’s more melancholic,” says Lenker. “It leaves you with that kind of sense of sadness or loss, unlike other Christmas movies, which tend to clear things up.”

So if Holdovers The season has already been proclaimed from the rooftops—by Gen Z and Boomers alike—let that stand as a testament to the beauty of a more thoughtful holiday movie than we’re used to. Holdovers is a period film that does not honor its setting, and equally remarkably is a Christmas film that does not extol the virtues of Christmas. This is a film filled with disappointments and disagreements; curses, insults and dislocated shoulders.

“The humanity of the film — it captures the spectrum of emotions that I think a lot of people experience around the holidays,” says Uwu. “These characters are very different. But they still come together and find some kinship and some mutual respect, and that thought is a little bit nostalgic. You want to hope that people like this come together and support each other in a time of need. ”

Hollin Thigpen

Holyn Thigpen is an arts and culture writer based in Brooklyn. She has an MA in English from Trinity College Dublin and spends her free time Googling Nicolas Cage.