‘Luce’ movie review — An American (dream) crime story

Luce follows a mystery surrounding a small town’s golden child and him and his parents’ run-in with a teacher bent on his demise. 

30-second review: Luce is so successful because its story has a clear message and point-of-view it wants to communicate, but director Julius Onah presents it in a completely fresh and original way. Though at its core it’s an emotional family drama, it plays more like a psychological thriller — and sometimes horror. 

Its twisting plot sometimes gets in the way of its social commentary, but overall Luce is an unpredictable and extremely entertaining exploration of the morals that we built our country on. Plus, Kelvin Harrison Jr. gives an Oscar-worthy performance — he’s a star on the rise.

Where to watch Luce: Now playing in theaters. 

Full review below ?

You’re going to need to suspend disbelief a bit when watching Luce. Not because the world it takes place is any different than ours — it is our world and country — and not because the story is that ludicrous. It’s just clear that the story and characters are designed to deliver a message. An extremely timely message in our polarized political moment. And while many movies have dealt with the strained race relations in our country, Luce is more complex.

Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr. following up his breakout in It Comes at Night) is the perfect American success story at his high school in the picturesque suburbs of Arlington, Virginia. Not only is he the captain of the track team, the valedictorian of his class, and star of the debate team, it seems that almost everyone in the school adores him — administrators, teachers, and students alike.

However, it wasn’t always easy for Luce. We learn that he was adopted from war-torn country Eritrea by white parents Amy (Naomi Watts) and Peter (Tim Roth) Edgar who had the tough rehabilitating the former child soldier. And though they often refer to how rough his childhood and upbringing was, they look at him with pride over his accomplishments.

There is one person that doesn’t completely buy Luce’s charisma and agreeable demeanor — and trust me when I say Harrison makes you fall for Luce. His American History teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer doing her best work in years) is wary of him, especially after reading an essay where he defends African writer Frantz Fanon and his call to combat colonization with violence. To make matters worse, Ms. Wilson searches Luce’s locker and finds a brown bag filled with powerful fireworks. 

She takes them to Amy who has to decide whether to confront her son or hide that she knows about their existence in the first place. She decides to hide them in a cabinet in their kitchen and hold a confrontation for another time — or never. However, in the twisting narrative of the film, the fireworks are quickly discovered by Luce, which sets off a chain of confrontations and deceptions and moral quandaries ranging in themes from tokenism, race, class, sexuality, nature versus nurture, and even more.   

Luce operates on multiple levels at once. At the center, there is this central mystery around Luce. How genuine and harmless is he? Is he predisposed to violence because of his background? Did he know about the fireworks? But the discourse runs so much deeper than that. Every character is dealing with some struggle that tests the very fabric of our society. If it sounds dramatic, it is. But it’s never overwrought or sentimental. 

Though it may seem a bit heavy-handed with its themes and message, that’s the point. The movie is designed to make you question the characters and your loyalty to them. In one magnificent scene, Luce indirectly confronts Ms. Wilson with his knowledge of the fireworks and their discovery. Harrison — who is truly brilliant and Oscar-worthy — makes you question Luce’s motivations by making his delivery both sincere, but with a sinister tinge that is genuinely terrifying. With a few changes in the plot, Luce could easily have been a horror movie. 

That’s the brilliance of Julius Onah’s direction. He doesn’t allow the movie to be constrained by any one genre as he switches perspectives between Amy, Luce, and Ms. Wilson. Even more, he gives Watts, Harrison, and Spencer room to dive into each of their characters to the point that each feels so lived in, even when the plot gets more convoluted and staged — it is based on a play after all.

I can’t understate how thrilling it is to watch Luce. You’re kept guessing at every moment. In one scene late in the movie, a character for one second breaks their usual demeanor for a split second in a way that is both endearing and completely terrifying. There are more of those moments throughout. Moments where you don’t know whether to laugh or cringe. If I was watching this on stage, I would applaud. Luce is made of those brilliant moments. Be ready for a ride. 

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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