Paul Giamatti

THE HOLDOVERS: three souls must evolve beyond their losses

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Photo caption: Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Paul Giamatti in THE HOLDOVERS. Courtesy of Focus Features.

As we meet Paul (Paul Giamatti) in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, he’s teaching ancient Greek and Roman civilization at a New England boarding school, a place where the very rich stashed their inconvenient sons in 1970. Paul appears to be grossly overqualified for his job and is an intellectual bully. Not only does Paul detest the entitled twits in his classes, he is a full-blown misanthrope who doesn’t engage with his adult peers, either.

Not one to curry favor, even with his boss, Paul is punished with the assignment of staying on campus during the Christmas break with a few students stranded by their parents. He is joined by Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who runs the school’s kitchen. Circumstances narrow his small band of student wards to one – Angus (Dominic Sessa) , a boy whose mother is concentrating her attentions on her new husband.

All three are emotionality wounded. Mary is grieving the loss of her only son, killed in Vietnam. Angus, having lost his father and not fitting in his mother’s new family, has essentially been orphaned. Much later, we learn that Paul wasn’t born to be the martinet that he has become; his personality and his self-isolation have also been formed by traumatic events.

So, a movie that starts out looking like a comedy of manners evolves into a three-track journey of emotional recovery, as each main character must learn how to navigate life beyond the losses they have suffered.

The acting is superb. As we expect in every performance, Giamatti is pitch perfect as a man much more complicated than he first seems. Yale-trained Broadway and West End actress Randolph is excellent here; (she also plays Mahalia Jackson at the March on Washington in Rustin.) Dominic Sessa is a revelation in his first movie appearance – charismatic, sly, canny and soulful as Angus. Carrie Preston really sparkles as one of Paul and Mary’s co-workers.

The Wife noted The Holdovers’ period verisimilitude, with every detail perfect for the 1970 setting. At Christmastime, Paul and Angus go to a famous movie; I checked, and it was released on December 23, 1970!

At first, I saw The Holdovers as a much smaller film than Payne’s masterpieces Sideways and Nebraska, but, the more I think about it, it’s uncommonly thoughtful and insightful. The Holdovers is in theaters and already streaming on Amazon.

DVD/Stream of the Week: Parkland

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James Badge Dale and Jacki Weaver on left in PARKLAND

On the morning of November 22, 1963, many folks in Dallas did not expect to be impacted by the Presidential visit – not the medical staff at Parkland Memorial Hospital, not the assassin’s brother Robert Oswald and, shockingly, not the local FBI office. Businessman Abraham Zapruder did intend to catch a peek at the spectacle of a presidential motorcade, but as an onlooker, not as a participant. This is the inventive perspective of Parkland, which sharply dramatizes the events of November 22-25 in Dallas. We’re all familiar with the actions of JFK, Jackie, Lee Harvey Oswald and LBJ on that fateful day, but these characters are only glimpsed in Parkland, which explores the JFK assassination from the viewpoints of the secondary participants.

It’s a very successful approach. The four story lines are compelling – the surgeries, the Zapruder film and the reactions by the Oswalds and the local FBI office. Parkland‘s rapid cuts and handheld (but not too jerky) cameras enhance the urgency.

The cast is excellent, with the most unforgettable performances coming from Marcia Gay Harden as an emergency room nurse, Paul Giamatti as Zapruder, James Badge Dale (the unforgettable Gaunt Young Man in Flight) and Jacki Weaver (Oscar nominated for Animal Kingdom) as Marguerite Oswald.

Parkland is conspiracy-theory-neutral. It portrays events that everybody – regardless of how you feel about the lone gunman theory – recognizes: the emergency surgeries attempting to save Kennedy (and then Oswald), the processing of the Zapruder film, the Oswald family’s reaction to the events, the FBI’s destruction of some key evidence.

Parkland is now available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, GooglePlay and XBOX Live.

Stream of the Week: Parkland

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James Badge Dale and Jacki Weaver on left in PARKLAND

On the morning of November 22, 1963, many folks in Dallas did not expect to be impacted by the Presidential visit – not the medical staff at Parkland Memorial Hospital, not the assassin’s brother Robert Oswald and, shockingly, not the local FBI office.  Businessman Abraham Zapruder did intend to catch a glimpse of the festivities, but as an onlooker, not as a participant.  This is the inventive perspective of Parkland, which sharply dramatizes the events of November 22-25 in Dallas.  We’re all familiar with the actions of JFK, Jackie, Lee Harvey Oswald and LBJ on that fateful day, but these characters are only glimpsed in Parkland, which explores the JFK assassination from the viewpoints of the secondary participants.

It’s a very successful approach.  The four story lines are compelling – the surgeries, the Zapruder film and the reactions by the Oswalds and the local FBI office.  Parkland‘s rapid cuts and handheld (but not too jerky) cameras enhance the urgency.

The cast is excellent, with the most unforgettable performances coming from Marcia Gay Harden as an emergency room nurse, Paul Giamatti as Zapruder, James Badge Dale (the unforgettable Gaunt Young Man in Flight) and Jacki Weaver (Oscar nominated for Animal Kingdom) as Marguerite Oswald.

Parkland is conspiracy-theory-neutral.  It portrays events that everybody – regardless of how you feel about the lone gunman theory – recognizes: the emergency surgeries attempting to save Kennedy (and then Oswald), the processing of the Zapruder film, the Oswald family’s reaction to the events, the FBI’s destruction of some key evidence.

Parkland is available streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu and XBOX Live.

Rock of Ages: juke box heroes have some laughs

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The Broadway musical Rock of Ages comes to the screen – a love story of hopeful young performers set on the seamy Sunset Strip in the age of Journey, Styx, Bon Jovi and the ever popular Whitesnake.  It really doesn’t matter that there is only a barest shred of a plot – this is a musical, after all, and we just need an excuse to break into song.

The two young leads are fine, but the laughs come from the impressive crew of supporting actors: Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary J. Blige and Bryan Cranston.   Cruise self-mockingly plays an Axel Rose type rock star, only more unreliable.

The inspired musical production numbers are staged ironically (there’s no other way to do a Quarterflash song).   You haven’t really heard Foreigner’s I Want to Know What Love Is until you’ve seen Tom Cruise really selling it.  At one point, Brand’s rockers belt out We Built This City in a duel with Zeta-Jones’ pastel clad church ladies singing We’re Not Going To Take It.  All lighthearted and funny; it’ll be a good DVD/stream pick in a few months.

DVD of the Week: The Ides of March

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It being Super Tuesday and all, let’s go with a film about electoral politics, The Ides of March.  George Clooney directed, co-wrote and stars in this contemporary political drama. It’s an engrossing story about ambition, loyalty and betrayal.  The story revolves around an up-and-coming political consultant (Ryan Gosling).  He is working under a veteran campaign manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in a Democratic Presidential primary.  He is wooed by the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) for the opposing candidate, and the intrigue begins.

Two performances stand out.  Philip Seymour Hoffman perfectly captures the old school politico, now jaded, but able to access the idealism that first drove him into politics.  Ryan Gosling can soar in any kind of role.  Here he is smart, but is he smart enough?  He is well-intentioned, but can it overcome his ambition? Gosling keeps us on the edge of our seats as he navigates a snake pit of betrayals.

The rest of the cast is good, too:  Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood as an ambitious intern and Marisa Tomei as a hard-nosed reporter.

It’s a movie that MOSTLY gets the politics right.  The fundamental truth of the movie is that an utterly cynical veteran politico can still fall in love with candidate, as Hoffman’s campaign manager does with Clooney’s candidate.

In another dead on accurate touch, Hoffman and Gosling need a room to privately pass on some bad news to Clooney.  Instead of finding a cramped office, the three men sit on folding chairs knee-to-knee in a room that could accommodate 200.  That stuff really happens.

Unfortunately, Ides gets some things wrong.  Would never happen:  A veteran strategist like Hoffman would never be surprised by the possibility of “mischief voting” in an open primary.  Real life campaign consultants would never discuss policy positions with a candidate in a room full of thirty 20-somethings, all itching to leak what they know.   And no veteran politico worth his salt would tell a reporter about a deal that is not done.

Nonetheless, it’s a movie that I recommend.

The Ides of March: an engrossing story about ambition, loyalty and betrayal

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Here’s a belated comment on The Ides of March, released earlier this fall.  George Clooney directed, co-wrote and stars in this contemporary political drama. It’s an engrossing story about ambition, loyalty and betrayal.  The story revolves around an up-and-coming political consultant (Ryan Gosling).  He is working under a veteran campaign manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in a Democratic Presidential primary.  He is wooed by the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) for the opposing candidate, and the intrigue begins.

Two performances stand out.  Philip Seymour Hoffman perfectly captures the old school politico, now jaded, but able to access the idealism that first drove him into politics.  Ryan Gosling can soar in any kind of role.  Here he is smart, but is he smart enough?  He is well-intentioned, but can it overcome his ambition? Gosling keeps us on the edge of our seats as he navigates a snake pit of betrayals.

The rest of the cast is good, too:  Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood as an ambitious intern and Marisa Tomei as a hard-nosed reporter.

It’s a movie that MOSTLY gets the politics right.  The fundamental truth of the movie is that an utterly cynical veteran politico can still fall in love with candidate, as Hoffman’s campaign manager does with Clooney’s candidate.

In another dead on accurate touch, Hoffman and Gosling need a room to privately pass on some bad news to Clooney.  Instead of finding a cramped office, the three men sit on folding chairs knee-to-knee in a room that could accommodate 200.  That stuff really happens.

Unfortunately, Ides gets some things wrong.  Would never happen:  A veteran strategist like Hoffman would never be surprised by the possibility of “mischief voting” in an open primary.  Real life campaign consultants would never discuss policy positions with a candidate in a room full of thirty 20-somethings, all itching to leak what they know.   And no veteran politico worth his salt would tell a reporter about a deal that is not done.

Nonetheless, it’s a movie that I recommend.

DVD of the Week: John Adams

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John Adams:  The most overlooked giant of our Founding Fathers is the subject of this brilliant mini-series.  Adams was a major player in forming the political consensus to seek independence from England, an important (if unevenly successful) diplomat during the war, a key political ally of George Washington’s and our nation’s first Vice-President and second President.  Unique among the Founding Fathers, his day to day activities were frankly chronicled in hundreds of letters to and from his wife of fifty-four years, Abigail.  These surviving letters comprise one of the most essential first-hand accounts of the founding of America, and, of course, also reveal much about the talented but prickly Adams and the Adams’ relationship.

To seal the quality of this miniseries, the Adams are played by the generally brilliant Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney.  Giamatti captures the short-tempered, brilliant political strategist who understands the limits of his own personal popularity.  Linney is perfect as the perceptive Abigail, who often helps John by pointing out that he needs to get out of his own way.

The series also, seemingly alone amid contemporary filmmaking, captures the era.  It was a time when travel and communication took weeks on horseback or months by sailing ship and when smallpox inoculation was by blade instead of by needle.  Day-to-day life is portrayed without romanticism or iconography.  In particular, no one who watches the tar-and-feathering scene will again view this practice as quaintly comical.