LUCE – Review

Enough with Summertime frivolity, time to get serious. Really, here’s a real thought-provoking, and debate-provoking, drama featuring some award-winning actors and a fresh new actor who could be up for several of those with this work. Though set in the world of high school, this film focuses on the parents and teachers as much as the students. Yes, it is a drama, but it’s also a mystery, as loyalties change and evolve, and unlikely alliances are formed. Throw in explorations of class and race and you’ve got a compelling tale that swirls all around the title high school student, the young man named LUCE.

The story opens at the start of his senior year as Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) delivers a speech to a most appreciative audience of fellow students, faculty, and parents including his folks, Amy (Naomi Watts) and Peter (Tim Roth). Ten years ago the Edgars brought Luce over from the war-torn African nation of Eritrea where he was a “child soldier”, and after months of therapy, adopted him. The only one not enthralled with the speech is Luce’s taciturn history teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), who meets the Edgars post-speech along with Principal Dan Towson (Norbert Leo Butz). Shortly after the event, Ms. Wilson calls in Amy for a private meeting at the school. Harriet was alarmed by Luce’s recent essay. It was to be told in the voice of a historical figure (some students chose FDR). Luce picked the violent revolutionary West Indian radical leader Frantz Fanon. The brutal rhetoric of the paper alarmed Harriet so much that she searched Luce’s locker and found a bag of illegal (and very dangerous) fireworks. Amy is shocked by the violation of her son’s privacy at first. Breaking the news to Peter, the parents are conflicted over what to do next. This sets off a chain of events that lead to secrets concerning sexual assault, drugs, and the whole social class system of the school and eventually threatens this “model family” and “shining example” son.

This film derives much of its impact from this talented cast lead by the star-making performance of relative newcomer Harrison in the title role. He makes Luce a wily chameleon, ready to switch personas as if he were donning a mask from an almost bottomless bag o’ tricks. Harrison effectively uses his eyes and body language to go from confident crusader to a clueless victim, sometimes jumping back and forth in the course of the same conversation. This puts us in much the same position as his co-stars. Except for Spencer’s Harriet, who is an unyielding rock, a solid wall that Luke can’t break through with his charm or eagerness to “please’. But Spenser also gives us her softer side as she tries to deal with an unstable sibling, showing us that the teacher must have order in the classroom as her home life is in chaos. Harrison and Spenser are superb sparring partners especially as Luce toys with her during a trivial talk about holidays. Caught in their crossfire is Watts, torn between devotion to her son and worries about the ghosts of his past life. At one point she becomes an internet sleuth, desperate to set her mind at ease while fearful of what she may digitally “dig up”. All this while trying to maintain a “united front’ with her hubby Peter, played with a gritty “low key” edge by Roth. Pete wants to think the best of their boy but refuses to “walk on eggshells” around him. And as he sees other families, Roth shows us the man’s deep regrets over “mutual decisions”. Butz is quite good as the usually easy-going administrator who strives to please faculty and parents using his good-natured sense of humor. And special kudos to the heart-wrenching performances by Marsha Stephanie Blake as Harriet’s mentally ill sister Rosemary, whose inner demons figure into the final act, and Andrea Bang as Luce’s loyal, needy and confused classmate Stephanie.

Director Julius Onah, working from the screenplay adaptation he co-wrote with J.C. Lee (based on his play), maintains a most somber tone, filling the school hallways with a sense of dread and tension. He captures the awkwardness of that setting along with the Edgar dinner table. This is particularly true when Pete veers away from Amy’s planned reveal to Luce about the essay and the fireworks. Onah’s eschews fancy camerawork and effects to find the impact of dialogue. The “cat and mouse’ exchanges between Luce and Harriet are as riveting as any high-speed car chase. He sets the horrific within the most casual of settings as when Amy talks to Stephanie about a “party game”. This story takes unexpected turns and twists, but never feel contrived. That may be because of the flawed characters, no 100% “good guys and bad guys”, just human beings trying to do right, but often coming up short. The overall mood is aided by the hypnotic score by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury. And, once again, the movie soars on this talented cast. They make LUCE a complex morality tale perfect for these troubled times.

3.5 out of 4

LUCE opens everywhere and screen exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas and Tivoli Theatre