You never know what someone else is going through.

Paul “Walleyed” Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is a despised history professor at Barton Academy, a remote New England prep school on the cusp of winter break in 1970. Already saddled with chaperoning a few students who can’t get home for the holidays, Paul unfortunately draws another: Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), whose mom decides at the last minute to take a honeymoon with her new husband rather than allow her son to visit as planned. Mary Lamb (De’Vine Joy Randolph) remains solely on-staff to supply herself and the other holdovers with meals, a single mother who recently lost her Barton-alumni son earlier that year in Vietnam. When circumstances reduce the headcount to only Angus, Paul, and Mary, the dynamic changes from student, teacher, and staffer to three unique individuals making the most of their situation… and nothing will be the same by the time the next school bell rings.

Scent of a Woman, About a Boy, With Honors. A tale as old as award shows, a promising-yet-troubled young lad starting out in life is reluctantly paired with an older disillusioned curmudgeon set in their ways — and mandatory wackiness ensues. Directed by Alexander Payne from an original screenplay by David Hemingson, the production reunites the star and director of the 2004 film Sideways and was reportedly shot on-location utilizing no sound stages. In the name of authenticity, only certain camera angles and the quality of the film betray the era, from a 70s-style opening credit sequence and retro MPAA film rating card to a reimagined postmodern Focus Features production logo. With the expected sass, sarcasm, and drama these kinds of features lean into as their bread and butter, is there something different enough about this one to stand out from the pack?

The first act of the film meddles with genres before mostly settling into a mismatched bromance: the core relationship between Paul and Angus. As Paul’s student, assumptions already exist since Angus isn’t the worst student in his class, but Paul equally distances himself from involvement with anyone — a life choice more than just an instructor’s predisposition. Angus displays an uncharacteristic honor for someone so young, befuddling Paul each time it comes out since it’s clearly in the boy’s nature. Opinions change further over the course of several misadventures as to whether the boy needs a friend, mentor, father figure, or all three, but Angus plays his cards close until he has no choice but to trust his instructor with his most-guarded secret. Whether it’s putting your money where your mouth is or refusing to stay on the sidelines, people make the right choice if their convictions are true, consequences be damned: the essence of being a Barton man.

If this film had actually been made in 1970, Donald Sutherland might have fit nicely into the role of Mr. Hunham — or perhaps Gabe Kaplan — but it’s clear the part was written with Giamatti in mind, possibly his finest work to date. Newcomer Sessa holds his own, maintaining mystery while also tapping into a leadership quality and being an amusing foil for Giamatti when not saving his teacher’s bacon. Randolph doesn’t get as much screen time as the boys, but she heaps motherly wisdom upon them both whether they want it or not, in many ways her own self-therapy. Older viewers might worry in the opening credits that modern sensibilities toward vice and the like might be overlooked or intentionally pushed aside in a modern film, but worry not; people puffed like smokestacks back then and all the contestants on “The Newlywed Game” were just as homely as they’ll remember.

After the New Year’s midnight ball drops and the campus starts to come alive again, the question is whether everything can go back to status quo, but of course it can’t. There’s an undeniable charm unique to the time and setting in spite of being set over fifty years ago — more so by skimming over political and racial divides of the era footnoted only by the inclusion of Mary’s son. While much has changed since then, a sense of inclusion, camaraderie, and self were just as important then as they are today… but not everyone knows where to find it.

The Holdovers is rated-R for language, some drug use, brief sexual material, and humans making zero progress relating to one another over the last fifty years.

Four skull recommendation out of four