After an Unsettling Discovery, a Promising High-Schooler is Questioned

From left: Tim Roth, Kelvin Harrison, Jr.,
and Naomi Watts in "Luce"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Director Julius Onah’s psychological drama, “Luce,” is a film where it’s impossible to pin down who’s telling the truth, and who’s telling lies.  Your questions pile up as the story goes on, and you start to not do anything else but second guess yourself at every turn.  This film is relentless in its suspense, and it’s impossible to be relaxed while you’re watching it.

Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) is a high-school student who was adopted from a war torn country as a child.  He now lives a peaceful, suburban life with his parents (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) and excels in both academics and athletics.  However, when Luce’s teacher, Ms. Wilson (Octavia Spencer), finds something disturbing in his locker, speculation will soon be made as to what secrets Luce is hiding.

Harrison, Jr., makes an incendiary, star-making performance in the lead role.  He’s able to win us over with Luce’s charisma, but also has us suspicious of him when he acts as if he knows more than he’s letting on.  The success with which he plays both sides of this character has us always switching alliances, as sometimes we want to support him, but at other times, we feel as if we shouldn’t.  However, no matter which side you’re on, you always manage to feel some sympathy for Luce when he’s confronted with the notion of being expected to carry himself a certain way, and this helps you understand the conflicted nature of his feelings.  With this being one of Harrison’s first leading roles, seeing him be able to show his character as equal parts friendly and threatening, and sometimes blending them to an unsettling effect, helps make this one of most unforgettable films of the year, and Harrison ensures that Luce is a character who will stand out during the rest of the year. 

Watts and Roth are superb as a mother and father who pride themselves in their son’s accomplishments, but must come to terms with having to choose between whether to believe him, or the accusations of others.  As you see them go back and forth between these two choices, the emotion that they put into their portrayals makes you feel in your gut how difficult it is for them to figure out if they went wrong somewhere in their parenting.  They ponder what they’ve given up in order to care for Luce, wondering if they’ve provided Luce with everything they were supposed to, and seeing them navigate a minefield of uncertainty concerning their son is as tension-filled as it is heartbreaking. 

Spencer is powerful as a character who might be as troubling as Luce.  We have every reason to believe that she’s looking out for Luce’s best interests, but that she also might have some resentment towards him, and the actions that her character takes can work for either side of this coin, making Ms. Wilson an ambiguous figure, just like Luce.  It’s a role that has Spencer’s character anchored in her intentions, and the intensity of Spencer’s performance makes Ms. Wilson’s interactions with Luce an enthralling battle of strong-willed personas.  The film also has an exploration of Ms. Wilson’s personal life, and the way in which Spencer shows her character handling these personal stresses adds a rich layer to Ms. Wilson that connects well with her arc involving Luce.

The screenplay by Onah and J.C. Lee, which is based on the latter’s play from 2013, sheds light on topics such as privilege, race, and the weight of people’s expectations, among other things.  Given how many topics this film tackles, there would be a risk of the ideas taking focus away from each other, but Onah and Lee manage to devote enough attention to each topic, with everything coming into a whole as the movie goes on.  Even when you witness to what all of this leads up, you still sit there going over everything in your head to figure out with which side you agree.  With several characters giving their own viewpoints pertaining to events of the story, this creates an absorbing tapestry of who should and shouldn’t be trusted.  Because of this, you’ll want to see this movie with a friend, due to the fervent discussions that are sure to commence once the movie is over. 

Onah’s direction always has you in an anxious state because of the constant unpredictability of the story.  You’re always prepping yourself for something to happen because every scene carries that possibility as the dialogues between the characters continue to build the tension.  Onah proves that, a lot of the time, these kinds of verbal spars between characters are all you need to create sweat-inducing anxiety.  Each sentence that’s spoken is a piece of a puzzle that becomes more and more complicated as the film goes on, and you’re left fixated on this quandary and trying to figure it out.  Given the many perplexities to the narrative, prepare to spend quite a bit of time thinking about it.

In the end, “Luce” is a movie about the perceptions that we have of people, whether they be right or wrong, which is appropriate because this film isn’t what it seems.

Grade: A