User reviews

The trailer for this film is what sold it for me. It appeared to me to be a psychological thriller set in an American high school, centred around the relationship between a Black student and his teacher. And I wasn't exactly wrong...but I wasn't exactly right either.

So Luce is a young Black student, praised by all his teachers and in line to be class valedictorian. But one of his teachers is worried that he is involved in some illegal activity and gets his parents involved. As the web of lies gets more tangled and the tension rises, we start to find that we don't know who to believe.

So lets start by talking about the spectacular performances of all the actors. There are some really seasoned actors and actresses in this film, and they of course give the kind of performances tat you would expect of some of these household names. However, what Is amazing is that the breakout performances by virtually unknown actors are just as good. Kelvin Harrison Jr.'s performance as Luce was truly spectacular and it is his amazing portrayal of the character is what makes the whole thing work. The whole reveal at the end would never work if his performance wasn't as excellent as it was.

Now we need to talk about the ending. But to that we need to look at the pacing of the whole film. So it is a very VERY slow build, as all psychological thrillers are. And you can feel the film building towards a huge climax...and was is the most disappointing thing is that I don't feel like that amazing climax ever really arrives. It was quite unclear at the end what the scheme actually was or what the motivations were, and for me, that is the most important thing in a psychological thriller. Instead I felt unsatisfied. Not a good feeling for the end of a thriller.

Not the best thriller I have seen so far this year and not one that I will remember in a few weeks from now. Enjoyable to watch once, but not one I will be returning too.

This film had me gripped, I loved it at first, saw a lot of potential in it! But i was left with so many unanswered question's, plot holes and motives. This would be a good film for a first episode to a series! But not as a film. The plot build up is extremely slow yet the ending is no different. Not worthy of the word 'film' but a good plot and amazing acting! Too many unanswered questions though.

My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library.

The core of the story is about a high school boy who had been rescued at age 7 from an African country at war, adopted, named Luce (light) and raised by a well-off white family in Virginia. The racial undertones are important as an element of all the stories within this almost 2-hour movie.

New Orleans native Kelvin Harrison Jr. is featured as Luce Edgar, he must carry the movie and he does it well. Luce has grown up to be a pleasant, polite, bright, trustworthy young man who excels both in the classroom and on the track. He also has become a gifted public speaker. As we meet him he seems like the perfect young man and a model of what can happen to someone rescued from a very bad situation.

But is Luce as 'perfect' as he seems? One female teacher, who also is black, begins to have doubts as Luce writes a paper advocating violence as a change mechanism. Is he just writing in character of the French author he cites, or is he writing his own deep beliefs? And what about the things she finds in his school locker? Was she violating his privacy without sufficient cause?

Teacher, Principal, and the parents get involved. Mom gets on the side of her son, the dad confronts Luce with a "I think that is a BS answer." A few other things happen, we the audience begin to take sides. The vandalism of the teacher's house at night, the fire in her classroom, could Luce be responsible for those because he blames her for taking away the only thing his friend DeShaun had, an athletic scholarship? Or is he being falsely accused by the teacher?

The director says, in his commentary remarks, that much of it is purposely left ambiguous, the audience is supposed to decide how perfect or how flawed Luce is supposed to be. It ends without definite conclusions, without tying up all the loose ends. Many viewers will not like this but to me it is a really well told fictional story, it makes you think, it is far from a cookie-cutter story. I think Luce falls somewhere in the middle of the extremes, as most of us do.

Outstanding score - it goes to show you how easily it can make or break a film. Casting and performances were great. Cinematography and directing were decent, but the writing/screenplay was unnecessarily convoluted and underwhelming in trying to create mystery and suspense, but instead presented a half-baked misfire of a plot. The slow pacing and choppy plot made the 109 min run-time feel like 3 hours. Luce missed a huge opportunity to be something great had it had more substance than filler. It's a very generous 6/10 from me.

Adapting his own play of the same name, playwright/screenwriter J.C Lee teams up with director Julius Onah to deliver a talk driven and character lead thriller that will most certainly get you talking afterwards but despite its weighty themes and controversial plot points, Luce may leave many cold come its closing credits as we are left too ponder many unanswered questions, that in some instances remain frustratingly unresolved.

Collating a well-rounded cast that includes the always good Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Octavia Spencer and featuring a star-making turn from It Comes at Night actor Kelvin Harrison Jr as the titular Luce Edgar, Onah's film is the very definition of a slow burning affair as we are thrust into a seemingly small-scale school drama that slowly but surely moves towards a much larger issue in the lives of those it's affecting.

The less known about Luce's plot developments the better but suffice to know that from Spencer's teacher Harriet Wilson concerned meeting with Luce's adopted mother Amy after she discovers a potentially dangerous item in Luce's locker following an alarm raising report his handed in to her, the film takes us on a ride that tackles issues of race, identity and stereotyping as we begin to understand more about each of the characters within Luce's world and what is motivating them to make life-changing decisions in light of alleged issues.

Front and centre to all of this is Luce, a character that is incredibly hard to pin down, drifting from likeable star student to possible deviously motivated trouble maker and Harrison Jr wondrously plays with our emotions and feelings here as he brings this on paper perfect adoptive son to life.

Watching Harrison Jr play off against Watts and Roth is a joy to behold, while his interactions with Spencer's nosey but well-meaning teacher is a huge reason why Luce is such a gripping film for a majority of its dialogue heavy runtime and for the most part Onah and his cast keep us on edge throughout as we try and predict just what will come out and who will play their true cards first.

Unfortunately for the film, come the endgame you can't help but feel as though a little too much has been left only half-explored, there's a lot of themes, issues and ideas at play here and for a film that borders on a near two hour runtime, Onah and Lee had enough time to explore these to a more satisfactory level and the unsure nature of exactly who comes out of this film as the good and the bad makes us feel short-changed as bystanders, making the journey of Luce far more entertaining that its destination.

Final Say -

A uniquely constructed family/high school drama that explores more than its fair share of weighty themes, Luceis a tightly wound thriller with some great performances and ideas but not the final execution to make it the killer offering it could've been.

3 bags of fireworks out of 5

I was with "Luce" all the way until the end. After all the twists and turns, the ending was a complete let down. I still do not know what was the point of this film. If it wasn't for the actors, I would have rated this a 1.

In Trump's America, such as it is, issues such as race, gender, and class have become more incendiary topics than they've been in years. It's a house divided against itself, and it's the setting for Luce, a film which examines a myriad of these issues. Adapted from the play of the same name by J.C. Lee, Luce was written for the screen by Lee and Julius Onah, and directed by Onah. Tackling all manner of hot-button issues, including race, class, gender, power, privilege, #MeToo, academic achievement, stereotypes, liberal elitism, even revolutionary rhetoric and the importance of language in encoding societal/political power structures, it also works as a thriller about a young man who may, or may not, be a dangerous sociopath posing as the embodiment of the American Dream. Without question it asks a lot of the audience, meaning some simply won't want to put in the effort. It's by no means perfect - it's too long, lapses into repetition, and it spreads itself too thin thematically - but, by and large, this is strong work, with plenty to say to those willing to listen.

In Arlington, VA, 17-year-old Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is the adopted son of Peter (Tim Roth) and Amy (Naomi Watts). Born in Eritrea, Luce spent the first seven years of his life as a child soldier. However, with the love of his adopted parents and a lot of therapy, he has grown into an exceptional young man; all-star athlete, captain of the debating team, all-round honour student. However, when his history teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), who has a reputation for being harder on black students, gives an assignment to write from the perspective of a revolutionary, Luce chooses Frantz Fanon, the Pan-Africanist writer who argued that colonialism could only be defeated by violence. Disturbed by Luce's apparent endorsement of Fanon's theories, Wilson searches his locker without his permission (something she has also done to other students), finding powerful fireworks, and so sets out to convince the Edgars that their son may be dangerous. Luce, however, has no intention of letting her do so.

In a film which takes in countless themes, one of the most prevalent is race, especially the notion of differences in black identity - both Wilson and Luce are black, but Luce is also an immigrant with a vastly different frame of socio-political reference. Sure, he has experienced great hardships, but since arriving in the US, he's been relatively sheltered (to quote Onah, "Luce's proximity to whiteness affords him certain privileges that other black characters don't enjoy"). Wilson, for her part, is a child of the 60s, with direct experience of the Civil Rights Movement. However, perhaps because of this, she subscribes to respectability politics, seeing all black people as sharing a common bond. This is one of the things against which Luce pushes back most strongly - he disagrees that there's such a thing as a monolithic black identity, refusing to conform to Wilson's conception of what a successful black student should be. To conform to preconceived and idealised notions would be to define himself on other peoples' terms, in a manner not entirely dissimilar from the very inequalities against which the Civil Rights Movement was a reaction.

And, of course, it's important not to forget that amidst all the ideological differences between Luce and Wilson, their initial conflict is a more tangible one - after writing a paper about violence, he's profiled in a way that a white student would not be. The fact that Wilson herself is black is irrelevant to this - she reads what he says about violence and she assumes he shares Fanon's sentiments, and hence could very well be dangerous. In this way, the film deconstructs the concept of the "model immigrant" - the immigrant who must prove their harmlessness and demonstrate their potential to contribute before they can be accepted by society at large. But is such a requirement of assimilation just another form of racial profiling?

One of the things the film does especially well is toy with audience expectations. Wilson, like much of society, seems to think of Luce in binary terms - he's either a bastion of what's possible in the land of dreams or he's violent and dangerous. Cinema audiences too are conditioned to think in such binaries - we want ambiguous characters such as Luce to ultimately be revealed as one thing or the other. However, Onah knows that people will scan the text to find clues to confirm this notion or that notion, and he delights in complicating that process at every turn - when a grinning Luce mentions fireworks to Wilson, is he threatening her or is it an innocent reference to the Fourth of July; when an amiable Luce meets Wilson and her drug-addict sister Rosemary (a stunning performance by Marsha Stephanie Blake) in a supermarket, is it a coincidence or did he follow them?

I'd be remiss here if I didn't talk a little about the acting, which is universally exceptional. Just when you think you've got Luce figured out, Harrison gives a sly glance, a slight smile, a shift in body language, which completely dismantles your theory. In a part that's very, very wordy, some of Harrison's best acting concerns Luce's subtle non-verbal traits. Spencer is equally good in the role of Wilson, whom she plays as far more on the surface than Harrison's Luce. However, so too does she exhibit a degree of ambivalence - we're often not sure if she's acting out of genuine concern for the school or is instead being vindictive towards a student whose thinking she has been unable to bend to her own.

In terms of problems, the audience has to do a lot of the leg work, and it's something which will be immediately distasteful to some, especially those who demand rigid binaries and clear explanations from their narratives. Personally, I loved the inherent ambiguity, but I understand that some won't. The same is true of many of the themes, which tend to be raised in something of a phenomenological vacuum, exiting almost as hypotheticals rather than prescribed answers, and again asking the audience to connect some of the dots. More of a problem for me was that the film ran a good 20 minutes longer than necessary, with much of the dramatic tension slackening in the last act. It's also prone to repetition - seen most clearly in Peter and Amy's constant back and forths and the dialogue scenes between Luce and Wilson. The film also features a few too many issues, several of which are taken virtually nowhere. A subplot involving a possible sexual assault at a party, for example, pays lip-service to many of the tenets of #MeToo but does very little beyond that.

Nevertheless, I was impressed with Luce. What it says about the US's (in)ability to engage in meaningful dialogue regarding important socio-political topics isn't flattering, but it is compelling. Essentially a film about pressure, as exerted by parents, by schools, by teachers, by friends, by society, by oneself, it's at least partly an exposé on the bitter divisions inherent in Trump's America. It does spread itself a little thin and the ambiguity won't be to everyone's taste, but this is brave filmmaking with a lot on its mind.

The collective performance of this ensemble is something else.

SYNOPSIS: Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is your ideal son/student/role model. Star of the track team and the student you expect to make the commencement speech for his college graduation. However, with a tension forming between Luce and his teacher Ms. Wilson (Octavia Spencer) things begin to get stranger as you're forced to question whether Luce's intentions are pure or cynical.

DIRECTION: Julius Onah captures an atmosphere that just about suffocates you with suspicion and tension. Onah really makes you feel a few of his scenes due to angles and positions that manipulates your thoughts the same way Harrison Jr. does with his performance. Not the most unique direction, but good enough to elevate the film.

WRITING: What's so hard about reviewing this film is I can't tell what it was that really affected me whether it was the Directing, Writing, Acting or all of the above. This film itself is a manipulation. I think a large part of this is due to the writing. It's so precise and at times maybe too precise where it can be unbelievable at times.

ACTING: Kelvin Harrison Jr.. I could leave this at that, which is crazy because the rest of the ensemble was SO good. What the fluff is going on with these performances not getting any Oscar buzz? Just because you expect damn near perfect performances from a Naomi Watts and Tim Roth means they don't deserve to be talked about? Honestly, I'll chalk this up to poor marketing. This might be the least marketed film of the year with star power like that. I only knew of this film due to one trailer I saw from a film way back. Anyway, if I had my choice of Kelvin "The Ultimate Manipulator" Harrison Jr. being nominated for Best Actor, he would be right behind Adam Driver. Some short, but affective performances from Andrea Bang and Holy shift it's Astro from the US edition of The X Factor.

CONCLUSION: This is a really well made film from Julius Onah and incredible performances from the entire ensemble. Wasn't enough to get 4/5 stars just because it didn't reach a level I really saw this film having the potential to reach. If you're looking for strong acting and tense dialogue this is a perfect fit for you.

Held me long enough to stay until the end, and just massively let down once I got there. Some good themes and ideas the non existent pay off and all the non answers left me feeling underwhelmed and a little annoyed. I found myself constantly waiting for answers to find out the film for the most part just wants you to come up with your own answers and fill in the blanks of which there are a LOT. I'm glad I did not pay to get see luce I most definitely would have wanted my money back. Some really good performances but that was the only reason this didnt get a one star.

I liked the movie - but was kind of confused about exactly the point. This would be a good movie for an English Class to dissect the different themes going on. I would say it hits upon the pressure parents and teachers put on teen role models (especially African American role models). Everyone wanted this kid to succeed so badly that it led to many instances of lying and deceit on the part of students, teachers, parents and administration. It also is a commentary on issues around foreign adoption and the difficulties both the parents and kids can go through. It touches on school politics and how things can get swept under the rug when people or their actions don't fit into the image they are trying to project. I wish the movie would have just touched on one of these issues and stuck with it...I was kind of bouncing around trying to figure out the main point. As I said earlier...this would be a great case study for an English or Theater class.

Luce is categorized in the drama genre and I guess that's correct even though there is an element of mystery and suspense. It's a slow build-up leaving the audience guessing who's telling the truth, trying to figure out what's really going on. Ultimately it could have been a good psychological thriller if that path would have been eplored. The beginning is a bit slow and the end is a bit disappointing as there was every chance to have a great ending scene. The cast is good, all actors did what they were supposed to do. Luce is a good movie but it could have been great.

It was a good film with a nice Story and some complex characters. The film mainly convinces with its great acting. First of all Kelvin Harrison Jr. who also had a great Performance this year in "Waves" . Here he Plays a totally different character, actually quite the opposite and once again he is terrific. Definitely an Actor that will have a bright future if he Plays the game correctly. I am absolutely Looking Forward to his next Performances. Another strong Performance came from Octavia Spencer, although she overacted it a Little bit in her final Scene. Still nicely nuanced for the rest of the film. Naomi Watts is solid, most of her Performance works through her expressions. Tim Roth is a bit in the shadow of the three, but his character is also the most poorly written. What he does with it is noteworthy. He breaks it out but still suffers from its weak base. The score is intersting and Fitting the atmosphere. The screenplay was solid and so was the direction. Sometimes it dragged a bit, especially in the mid section. But what I liked is that the ending is Kind of ambitious - the audience can make their own decision and conclusion.

Brilliant acting all round. Very interesting storyline. BUT it seemed to tease/suggest answers rather than just simply answer. So when it's over you are just left confused & disappointed. Shame really as it was a good movie.

Great actors. Potential great story. The ending disappointing. Way to many unanswered questions.

This film based on a play by Asian American writer, J.C. Lee explores the notion of what is true? Luce, the main character played cleverly by Kev lin Harrison, it'sworthy of recognition and praise and supported by the established talents of Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts. Washington's superb but uncanny cinematic presence, can get underneath one's skin.

Luce, an immigrant high schooler who's an accomplished academic student that serves as a role model not just to an immigrant but to African-American males as implied by the film's narrative. This film has brought forth controversy and stereotypes about the myth of being a perfect immigrant searching the American Dream.

This film is directed by Nigeria-born filmmaker, Julius Onah (known for Sci-fi genre). The film really tries to think outside of the box, which probably "why" many reviews don't know how to react. It about racism? Between polarization of White and Black America? Or is it the stress of being a teenager in Middle America? Or could this be "really" about what mainstream media wants the masses to think in the idea of model citizenship?

I was waiting for it to become a psychological thriller (Amazon Prime explained it that way) but there weren't many thrills. I'm not exactly sure on the point to the movie. I was hoping for a more explosive ending. Hmmm I need to look up what exactly this movie is trying to say.

A confusing, conflicting & cryptic thriller that plays with our perceptions to challenge our preconceptions, Luce clearly intends on starting a conversation but it also does the bare minimum to make it happen as the film expects the audience to figure out the mystery yet doesn't provide a starting point to get them going.

Co-written & directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox), the film is certainly an improvement over his previous dud and is captivating in its narration that tackles parent anxieties, assumption, suspicion, biases & guilt, but much of what it wants to say is lost in translation, and the ambivalent ending doesn't help the cause either.

There are a lot of things that are left unresolved by the end, and even the cast does too well to not let anything slip away. Kelvin Harrison Jr. chips in with a multifaceted input that keeps us guessing at all times. Both Naomi Watts & Tim Roth do good as his concerned parents. Andrea Bang easily steals her scenes, and Octavia Spencer is brilliant as usual.

Overall, Luce is a deliberately complex yet sufficiently engaging drama that asks a lot of questions but refuses to answer any of them. What keeps the interest alive is our very own curiosity to discern the truth, and the anticlimactic end leaves behind an underwhelming aftertaste. Still, for its strong performances & thought-provoking treatment, Luce is worth a shot.