The Holdovers

Third lead is black cook Mary at a mostly white 1970 prep school; a Korean student appears briefly. Race fits the time and the draft/class plot rather than modern “brilliant leader” identity casting. Awards talk stressed black women and representation, but the film sells Mary as a grieving mother first.

Clear lines about the rich “1%,” donor power, and poor kids drafted while rich ones skate. It sounds like 1970 class anger and classic school satire, not long modern activist identity speeches. Viewers hear politics, but lightly.

Main arc is loneliness, grief, and found family. Class unfairness and a black working mother’s war loss are real and visible, yet they serve character pain more than a race- or gender-identity agenda. No queer plot or identity-swap center.

Elite school protects donors, fails fairness, and punishes a teacher who helps a kid. Draft rules favor the rich. Noticeable rich-vs-poor and prep-school critique, still closer to old-school class satire than modern anti-whiteness or patriarchy lectures.

Key creatives’ cached scores are low (Payne ~19; Hemingson and several producers near 0–13). Public framing of this title stayed on craft, period feel, and human stories, with only mild class/race context, not a DEI campaign.