Luce

Luce, adopted from Eritrea, is the school's brightest student: star of the track team, valedictorian, the boy everyone holds up as an example. His history teacher, Ms Wilson, notices an essay of his defending violence, searches his locker and finds fireworks. She tells his parents. Luce explains everything reasonably, and no explanation quite settles. The film is not interested in a crime. It is interested in the burden of being an example: what Luce carries is an expectation, and that expectation removes him from being a person. Ms Wilson applies the same pressure to her own students. The film leaves both of them right and wrong. The form is thriller: school corridors, conversations at home, long tense two-handers. The camera stays on faces and the audience keeps weighing whom to believe. Julius Onah directed and adapted the screenplay with J.C. Lee from Lee's 2013 play. It premiered at Sundance on 27 January 2019 and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the dramatic category. Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Luce, Octavia Spencer the teacher, and Naomi Watts and Tim Roth the parents. Who it is for: viewers who like moral thrillers that withhold their answer. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a clear conclusion. The film closes no question, and does so deliberately.