What movie do they watch in the cinema in ‘The Holdovers’?
The Oscars might be considered industry royalty, but the truth is, they don’t always get their picks for ‘Best Picture’ quite right. But, in 2024, there don’t seem to be too many critics of their choices for the premier category, with ‘Best Picture’ being crammed full of box office hits like Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, as well as indie hits like Celine Song’s Past Lives and Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers.
While a song and dance has been made of the more popular movies included in the ‘Best Picture’ category, it is Payne’s unlikely Christmas drama that has gone most under the radar despite being one of the ceremony’s finest offerings. Such is fitting for one of the industry’s most underrated filmmakers, who has proven time and time again that he’s capable of dynamic creativity, ranging from 1999’s Election to 2013’s Nebraska.
Payne’s latest film, The Holdovers, takes place during the Christmas holidays at Barton Academy, a New England boarding school, where Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), a classics professor, and student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), are forced to try and find mutual connection. Joined by chef Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the trio form a formidable group of seemingly abandoned individuals forgotten in the midst of Christmas frivolity.
Not just one of 2023’s greatest cinematic offerings but also one of Payne’s greatest-ever feature films, The Holdovers is a ferociously gorgeous ode to human connection during a festive period that so often encourages you to look inward rather than outward. Giamatti is spellbinding as the volatile Mr. Hunham, and it is almost unfathomable to consider that this is only Sessa’s debut role.
While the entirety of the film is an absorbing odyssey, the film truly accelerates once the trio agree to go on a ‘field trip’ to Boston on Christmas Day. Packing their bags, Lamb says she wants to see her sister, while Tully simply wants to absorb the Christmas spirit of the city, leading him and his teacher to form a brief partnership as they browse the sights and eat its luxuries.
What movie do they watch in the cinema in The Holdovers?
During their Boston adventure, Hunham and Angus go to watch the real 1970 comedy western Little Big Man at the Orpheum Theatre. Directed by Arthur Penn, the Oscar-nominated movie, starring Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway, tells the story of an old man recalling his life, looking back at his adolescent days when he was raised by Native Americans.
Speaking about why he chose to include the film in particular, Payne told Filmmaker Magazine: “Little Big Man came to me because we had a scene set in a movie theatre, and I thought, ‘I’ll research what was playing in theatres in December of 1970.’ And there was Little Big Man, a picture I loved, seeing it probably four times in the theatre when I was nine and ten years old. So, that inclusion was a bit personal.”
Take a look at the trailer for the 1970 movie Little Big Man, which earned Chief Dan George an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, below.
