From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

For in-depth thoughts on The Holdovers, please see my colleague Larry Fried’s review from its TIFF debut here.

Video Quality

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment brings The Holdovers to Blu-Ray with a really nice 1080p video presentation that captures the throwback nature of the feature. The film was shot digitally and touched up during post-production to achieve this effect. The manufactured filmic look means the picture is not always completely crisp, but it has quite a bit of texture to it. Where the film shines is in the intricacies of the fabrics of the clothing which provide notable textural details. This transfer provides a terrific amount of depth on display, especially in any exterior shot of the school grounds. Throughout the movie, the period production design and the various locations are captured with care.

The winter setting leans more toward the muted side of the spectrum rather than any sumptuous splashes of colors that may normally be associated with the season. There are a handful of moments that have some standout hues within the lighting and costumes. The flesh tones are natural with a grand amount of detail present in close-ups, especially regarding the texture of facial hair. The image is consistent with everything being represented as it should. The black levels are fairly solid with only a light bit of banding which feels to be an issue with the source aesthetic. Universal has given this one a pleasing presentation.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a unique DTS-HD 3.0 Master Audio track that is presented within a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio container that captures this period tale authentically. As with the video side of things, the filmmakers are attempting to realistically evoke the sound quality of a ‘70s film, a decision that may irritate the audiophiles in the audience. In the strive for authenticity, there are some odd deficiencies that we are not used to hearing in modern cinema such as hollow voices and some light crackling.

Dialogue is the focal point of the film, and it mostly comes through clearly without too much competition from any competing sounds. This is not a particularly action-packed movie, but there is a nice representation of environmental sounds. The soundtrack and score maintain a pretty decent fidelity, but this is one of the areas where you can tell there was some slight artistic manipulation. The various sound effects provide a subtle touch to the low end of the track which adds some texture. This audio track represents the movie as it was intended, and in that regard, it succeeds on home entertainment. There are English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles provided.

Special Features

Deleted Scenes: Four scenes of unused footage totaling six minutes are provided here featuring text introductions from Alexander Payne explaining why various scenes were cut. These moments are enjoyable even if it is understandable why they were omitted.
Alternate Ending – “Mary Continues On”: A two-and-a-half-minute alternate version of the ending is provided with a text explanation of why the scene was cut.

The Cast of The Holdovers: An 11-minute featurette is provided in which the cast and creative team discuss the talents of all of the performers, discovering Dominic Sessa, the atmosphere on set, and more.

Working With Alexander: A nine-minute look at the direction of Alexander Payne, how he interacts with the various departments, the history brought to his relationship with Paul Giamatti, and more.

Final Thoughts

The Holdovers is a fantastic character drama that explores how we take for granted what others may be going through in their own lives as we walk through life wrapped up in our own problems. The humanity that comes with forming a connection and truly understanding one another is brought to life beautifully in this feature. The ‘70s aesthetic makes a lot of sense not just as an artistic flight of fancy, but as a nod to the type of storytelling we used to get more when studios did not have to rely solely on IP. The performances are terrific all around from the veterans to the newcomers. This new Christmas favorite is a real standout of the year. Universal Pictures has provided a Blu-Ray disc that sports an authentic A/V presentation and a couple of decent supplements. This is an easy recommendation for those looking for something heartfelt in their lives. Highly Recommended

The Holdovers will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital on January 2, 2024.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.