Luce

What’s worse: a movie that never shows any potential to be good in the first place or a feature that begins with an intriguing setup and then squanders that opportunity?  I can definitely attest the latter is more disheartening.  That’s the experience you’ll get if you watch this provocation of a film.  It sets up an intriguing premise meant to provoke but then carelessly dismisses all those ideas with more questions than answers by the end.

Luce (pronounced loose) is all about Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), all-star athlete, accomplished debater, and an academically gifted high school student.  He is also a black teen adopted at the age of seven by a wealthy white married couple Peter (Tim Roth) and Amy (Naomi Watts).  He came from impoverished war-torn Eritrea in East Africa.  There as a child soldier he was taught to fight at a young age.  None of this violent background is immediately apparent from the calm, upstanding child we see here.  He appears to be an affable teen, popular with students and teachers alike.  He is an inspiration at assemblies with his stirring speeches.  He’s seen addressing his classmates at the beginning of the movie and once again at the end.  You’d think life would be all roses for Luce.  His teacher, Ms. Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer) views him as “an important example to the school”.  However, his relationship with this woman is strained.  He feels an overwhelming pressure to be the ideal representative of his race.  There’s unresolved conflict bubbling beneath the surface of his personality.  His conduct will arouse many questions.

Octavia Spencer is one of our finest actors working today.  She was mesmerizing earlier this year in the underrated Ma.  Here again, she imbues this role with such gravitas that I was absolutely riveted to her whenever she was on screen.  As Luce’s history teacher, she is unnerved when she reads the paper he turns in.  The assignment was to write from the perspective of a historical figure.  Luce chooses Frantz Fanon, a 20th-century revolutionary and writer who believed violence by the oppressed was necessary for the struggle against colonialism.  When Harriet finds a bag of illegal fireworks in his locker, she views him as a potential terrorist threat.  Is he being judged fairly?  There’s a powerful dichotomy between this teacher who wants to do the right thing and the confident Luce who is exceptionally glib.  He’s a slippery chap and actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. is very good in the role.  He has an answer for everything.  It’s hard for the audience to truly determine who is in the right.  That set-up is indeed compelling and Octavia Spencer elevates this woman to seem more astute than her character has been written.

Luce is directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox).  He also adapted the script with JC Lee who wrote the original play on which this film is based.  They are constantly playing with the audience’s perception.  This is a highly theatrical work where people say and do things that wouldn’t occur the same way in real life.  When Harriet makes her discovery in Luce’s locker, she goes out of her way to hand the fireworks over to his mom first rather than simply going to the principal.  Her decision is not prudent.  This will have negative repercussions for her later but it acts as a conduit to create other manufactured situations for the purposes of contemplation.

Luce, the film, is ultimately a frustrating experience.  The screenplay introduces many fascinating ideas.  Then smugly neglects to make a lucid point about any of them.  It creates well-intentioned people for whom we sympathize.  Then later “pranks” the audience by giving the people behaviors to stimulate our contempt.  Luce’s liberal parents have given him an opportunity to shine.  That’s commendable but then they point to his success as a testament to how virtuous they are.  Later we learn that because mom Amy couldn’t pronounce Luce’s original name, his parents gave him a new one so they could.  We discover ex-girlfriend Stephanie was sexually abused at a party but by the end, it is implied that she actually can’t be trusted.  Harriet has a sister named Rosemary (Marsha Stephanie Blake) that lives with her.  Their relationship is an engaging plot point that humanizes Harriet.  Rosemary will later exhibit a needlessly exaggerated display that is uncomfortable to watch.  Luce himself is a big question mark too.  He seems like a model student, but maybe he has everyone fooled.  Could he be a sociopath that has perfected the ability to code-switch depending on the listener?  You’ll never know and the movie doesn’t provide enough info to make that determination.  Luce is an unfinished thesis that considers race, privilege, prejudice, tokenism, and adoption.  It merely exploits those subjects to incite a fire, then irresponsibly leaves without making any attempt to quell the flames.

08-21-19