2023 Telluride Film Festival – Day 2 – ‘The Holdovers,’ ‘Nyad’ and Day in the Life of Me

With too much to do and not enough time to do it in the day before, I’ve had to forego heading out to an early movie and finish the write-up of Day 1 to get to my editor. That done quickly, I could then take the time before the next slot of films to watch a screener I was given to get me ready for an interview scheduled later in the week. So I did see a movie, just not the one I intended to. (I’ll let you guess which one it was when you read later articles. Look for the one with the interviews.)

This is not an unusual occurrence for most members of the press here. I’ve seen other reporters whipping out laptops while waiting in line, or dashing back to their condos to get their screeds submitted before rushing to their next, assigned movie to see. It may seem like fun from the outside (and, admittedly, it is,) but it can be exhausting.

But occasionally we get back on track and get to sit down to take in a couple of great films. This day I saw two.

Alexander Payne feels like a very familiar face here in Telluride. That’s because he truly is. He was brought here to show one of his films years ago, was smitten, and comes back nearly every year since, whether he has a film or not. And if you’re looking to find him while in town, you have to go to the films because if he’s not needed elsewhere, he’s enraptured by the screens showing other filmmakers fare. He’s someone we all have become accustomed to seeing both as a director of his films and as a festival filmgoer.

So when it was learned that he had a new film, The Holdovers starring Paul Giamati, it wasn’t very hard to predict (Sorry Festival Director Julie Huntsinger, she hates it when we guess right,) that it would play at the fest. And because we are so aware of his style and his abilities, it could have been a bit daunting to “play to the home crowd,” so to speak. But this film had nothing to worry about.

Executed like a contemporary film shot in the 70s, the film plays out over the winter holiday weekend at an age-old private school in Massachusetts. Paul Giamatti is in his element, grounding the film as a curmugeony teacher assigned to watch over those few students who can’t go home over the break. As the students and staff dwindle we’re left with two other powerhouse performances to contend with Giamatti’s grumpy guss. Standout first-time film actor Dominic Sessa shines as the troubled youth while Da’Vine Joy Randolph turns in a subdued grieving mother, head of the kitchens. These three misfit loaners find a strange but wonderful chemistry and discover ways to improve themselves as they stumble about helping each other.

The film is the most Payne-esque of all of Alexander Payne’s films to date. A comfort film of human discomfort shared while yearning for connection. If you’ve liked any of Payne's films in the past, this one is a surefire hit.

When Oscar-winning directing duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, known for documentary studies of superhuman individuals facing nearly insurmountable challenges chose their first narrative subject, why stray from their previously proven path? Nyad is a wonderfully intimate study of everlasting friendship bonds challenged by an unstoppable drive against everything the world can throw at one attempting to fulfill one’s destiny.

Incredibly driven, self-possessed powerhouses of real-life legend Diana Nyad and her as powerful and equal in every way best friend, Bonnie, require casting of equal magnitude prowess. Annette Benning as Nyad and Jodie Foster as Bonnie embody perfectly those unique women.

There is a lyrical quality brought about throughout this film through the repetitiveness of motion, riding the languid to tempestuous waves thrown in both the physical and emotional ebb and flow of this film. Undogged determination, the power of true friendship, and teamwork are the themes shining through this film’s execution. The editing choices of intercutting the real-life footage seamlessly with the dramatizations allows the audience to slip into the joy and relief of reliving such a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. This creative team can take a victory lap around the pool.

I’d write some more, but, alas, I’ve fallen even more behind on my schedule so I’ll end this post here and try to catch up. Will I? It depends.