1ÅÝֱܽ²¥

This immersion helps us enter this world of a New England prep school just before winter break 1970. With all the boys eagerly awaiting their parents to pick them up for the holidays, a small group is “held over,� staying on campus with one teacher as their babysitter.

The teacher in question is ancient history professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) who is disliked by just about everyone on campus, students and faculty alike. He is rigid, a stickler for the rules and has high, even impossible, expectations for each of them. He is also a lonely and not-so-subtle alcoholic.

One of his charges for the break is Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a clever but defiant teenager forced to come to terms with his mother’s new husband and the thought of them leaving him behind, both literally and figuratively.

When the rest of the group of holdovers are permitted to join another boy on his skiing holiday, Angus is the only student forced to stay. He, Hunham and the school cook, Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a grieving mother who lost her only son in Vietnam, are thrust together for the remainder of the break connecting and breaking down their own personal walls brick by brick with each other’s help.

The script by David Hemingson is as immersive as Payne’s direction, creating an easy and flowing dialogue between the three main cast members that is never too heavy-handed or too underplayed. The laughs often sneak up on you as well as the moments that make you a little misty-eyed. While melodramatic in parts, the words thrive thanks to the incredible performances at the film’s heart.

It’s no surprise that Giamatti handles persnickety Hunham and his moments of doubt with great effect and without getting soapy in the process.

But the great surprises of the film come from Randolph and Sessa: Both bring vastly different roles and hold firm to their character’s emotional journey throughout. Randolph in particular shines as this mother who is in the depths of her grief, surrounded by constant reminders of her son, delivering a powerful and understated performance.

The film is, however, a bit long for the kind of story it’s telling, and despite Payne’s attempt to capture that ‘70s look, a few anachronisms snuck in.

Overall, “The Holdovers� walks the perfect line between tragedy and comedy. Setting it during the height of the Vietnam War is no accident. There is a great but subtle nod to the notion that while most of the boys at the prep school will probably get to avoid military service thanks to their parents’ standing, not all of them are immune. Certainly, with the death of Mary’s son ever present, it’s a stark reminder of the war that sent a bunch of kids, most of them from economically disparate communities and homes, or those who fell through the cracks, to die in a jungle half a world away. In contrast, the rich kids get to go skiing. It’s not a constantly looming theme, but it is quietly ever-present, with a few prominent reminders expertly sprinkled in.

Thanks to his balanced approach and stellar cast, Payne delivers some of the finest work of his career with “The Holdovers,� creating a classic-feeling holiday movie about finding yourself and allowing people to find you when you feel alone — and what could be more fitting for winter than that?