Luce

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.