Luce movie review & film summary (2019)

Like the abysmal “Crash,” “Luce” is one of those “we need to talk about race movies” where the “we” in question are smugly scolded by the film for falling into the stacked deck-style trap the narrative attempts to set. “You shouldn’t have trusted me!” laughs the film. “You need to check your (fill in the blank: racism, sexism, privilege, Black paranoia, etc.)” Of course, the filmmakers absolve themselves of the crime of being complicit in leading the conversation toward the conclusions they’re tsk-tsking. At best, this is dirty pool. At worst, it intensifies and reinforces the stereotypes it claims to be against.

Since this is a “thriller,” I’m beholden to the rules of spoilers. This is aggravating, because in order for me to tell you why I think “Luce” is lackluster, I’d have to reveal too much information. So here’s what I can tell you. “Luce’ takes place at a high school deeply enamored with a Black student named Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). In addition to looking old enough to be a teacher, Luce is the school’s star pupil, excelling in both sports and academia. He is the proud son of Amy and Peter Edgar (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, respectively), two White parents who pulled him from a war-torn African country where he was conscripted to be a child soldier. After years of briefly mentioned therapy, Luce has become a productive member of American society. In addition to that splash of “Crash,” we now have a soupçon of “Beasts of No Nation.”

Luce’s former life as an agent of forced violence gets dredged up by his teacher, Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer, who also serves as a producer). Wilson is a stern taskmaster who takes no guff in her class. She calls the Edgars in for a parent-teacher conference regarding a paper she assigned the class. The topic required taking a controversial position on a subject. The assignment is just asking for trouble, because a student as good as Luce is going to write one helluva convincing paper. Luce writes about Frantz Fanon, whose ideas about “necessary violence” lead Wilson to think Luce is planning some sort of violent retribution toward the school. This leads to Wilson exercising some obscure school rule that allows her to search Luce’s locker. Inside, she finds fireworks, which she sees as proof of Luce’s intentions. Since Wilson has apparently never seen a crime show before, she gives her evidence to the people who have very good reason to destroy it, and by extension, all her credibility.