luce movie review rotten tomatoes

“Luce” is the worst kind of provocateur; it tosses out all manner of outrageous ideas and then, like those pathetic dudes on Twitter, it yells out “DEBATE ME!” As soon as you accept the challenge, the film folds like cheap origami. And this film has a lot to toss at you. It implies that women who say they have been raped are possibly liars with a hidden agenda; it implies that White parents adopting Black children are doing so out of guilt or the desire to be seen as woke; it implies that said Black children may be harboring a dangerous penchant for violence under the façade of being “one of the good ones.” And it does absolutely nothing useful with any of this besides shoehorning these elements into the thriller genre.

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.

Wilson’s bombshell discovery, pardon the pun, causes a rift in the Edgars’ marriage. Regarding Luce, their parental dynamic mirrors the couple in Larry Cohen ’s killer infant movie, “It’s Alive”—she refuses to think her kid might be evil even in the face of what may be incontrovertible proof; he is more than willing to take incriminating details at face value. In one of the film’s rare moments of honesty, Peter implies that he would rather have adopted a kid with less baggage and therefore less performative wokeness value. When “Luce” toys with the idea that Amy has a Great White Savior complex, and that it might literally blow up in her face if her ward is a true monster, the film offers the mild bemusement that accompanies schadenfreude. After all, Luce proudly explains that his parents changed his African name because they couldn’t pronounce it. There are centuries of damning history in that action alone.

Unfortunately, “Luce” can’t focus solely on the Edgars’ intentions because it has a truckload of other hot-button issues to dump on the viewer, all of them presented in a half-assed fashion that the film thinks is thought-provoking. It’s nothing but questionable noise, most notably in the guise of Stephanie Kim ( Andrea Bang ). Stephanie may have been sexually assaulted by jock friends of Luce before he saved her, and Wilson uses her in class as an #MeToo example. Stephanie’s connection to the plot is one of those aforementioned spoilers, but I’ll say it’s as big a problem as a separate subplot whose sole purpose is to brutally humiliate a woman with mental issues for no reason outside of shock value.

Throughout the film, Luce remains a cipher and Harrison’s performance suffers as a result. Luce says he doesn’t want to be a symbol, but that’s all he is here because the film is too gutless to commit to a position. So much is being made about how Nigerian director Julius Onah and his co-screenwriter J.C. Lee are supposedly focusing on the unfair ways Black people are held to unrealistic standards, but this Black person didn’t see enough of that. Luce is so beloved by his school that he’s giving speeches to the entire school on a regular basis! Spencer earns a huge laugh when she responds to Luce’s assertion that he’s never been called the N-word. That’s as ludicrous as the rest of this movie.

Perhaps this material worked better onstage where it originated. “Luce” feels greatly influenced by David Mamet ’s controversial play, “Oleanna” which, like all of Mamet’s work, was more effective live. On this very site, Roger Ebert tried to understand why Mamet’s film version didn’t instill in him the same reaction as the play.  I haven’t seen “Luce” in its stage incarnation, but I can easily imagine a clever two-hander between Luce and Harriet Wilson, two Black people with different ideas about how America sees them, and how their birth origins shape their perceptions. There’s a bit of that here, but it’s presented in a late scene between the two that is muddled and confusing rather than illuminating. The constant manipulations make “Luce” profoundly dissatisfying both as a thriller and as social commentary.  

According to Rotten Tomatoes, this review is at odds with a consensus of mostly White writers and a few of my fellow voices of color as well. I can live with that. Because if a film is going to toy with the audience, it should at least give them an incentive for having played along, no matter how absurd that reward may be. I mean, I’ll never forget the magic racism-curing staircase of Paul Haggis ’ misguided Oscar (and NAACP-award) winning Best Picture. That’s right. “Crash” is more memorable than this.

Odie Henderson

Odie “Odienator” Henderson has spent over 33 years working in Information Technology. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire  here .

• Naomi Watts as Amy Edgar
• Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Luce
• Octavia Spencer as Harriet Wilson
• Tim Roth as Peter Edgar
• Astro as DeShaun Meeks
• Andrea Bang as Stephanie Kim
• Norbert Leo Butz as Dan Towson
• Marsha Stephanie Blake as Rosemary Wilson
• Ben Salisbury
• Geoff Barrow

Writer (play)

• Julius Onah

Cinematographer

• Larkin Seiple
• Madeleine Gavin

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Luce Review: Exhilarating, Radically Thought-Provoking

Luce is a deeply layered, strategic thriller whose take on white guilt and black existentialism is always at a thoughtful boil. It’s one of the year’s very best films.

Let your mind ponder  Luce, which might be the most provocative film of the year. There have been very few adapted stage plays recently (with the exception of musicals) that have hit a chord with critics. There are reasons for that, but it’s strange to think about since so many of us are craving original content with something to say that’s relevant, important, and even revisionist. In a century full of remakes, reboots, prequels, sequels, or works that have been adapted five times over, why can’t we embrace a stage play adaptation that has something interesting and different to say? Well, Julius Onah and JC Lee have the cure with a dramatic psychological thriller that is exhilarating and radically thought-provoking.

Luce refers to the film’s title character, played by newcomer Kelvin Harrison Jr. ( Monsters and Men ), who survived a deadly situation as a 10-year-old in war-torn Eritrea by being adopted by an affluent white couple, Peter and Amy Edgar ( Naomi Watts and Tim Roth). Luce is everything they dreamed about when raising a child. He is a leader among his peers, captain of the debate team, a star track athlete at his expensive prep school. His teachers love him and are always under the eye of approval from the principal (Norbert Leo Butz of Bloodline fame) who is guiding him on his way to the IVY league. The one person who has her concerns about him is a teacher, Harriet Wilson ( an exceptional Octavia Spencer ), who brings them to Luce’s mother after he writes a paper on the French Colonist Revolutionary Franz Fanon, who she believes actively promoted violence as a necessary need for protest. She then violates Luce’s civil rights by going through his locker and finding a bag of illegal fireworks, handing them over to his mother, as a way to keep it from derailing his promising future.

Luce was directed by Julius Onah, which he co-wrote, and was adapted from JC Lee’s play of the same name. This is only Onah’s second feature behind the camera and considering it’s a follow-up to his critically drubbed The Cloverfield Paradox is quite an accomplishment. Their film has so much more going on underneath the surface than meets even the most critical eye. Lee’s adaptation of his own work is instantly fresh and endlessly interesting as it attempts to tell a story of white guilt, expected obedience, and black existentialism via a cerebral attack of predefined roles that are dropped in the middle of an affluent, lily-white world. Each main character is complex, shaped with such thoughtful care and each action by the cast. You may then forget where the film is headed, avoiding obvious clichés and tropes that most films rely on to move their story along.

The performances here are formidable and plentiful, to say the least. Spencer’s African-American teacher’s concern for school safety and trying to keep obediently in his own stereotype is well played. Roth, while the role is smaller than perceived going into the film, is effective as a man who loves his son, but didn’t sign up for any political statement. Watts, in what might be her best role and performance to date, is outstanding as a caring mother, who will do anything to protect Luce, yet is ultimately scared of not only her son’s actions but something she’s feeling guilty about that she can’t possibly understand.

Then there is Harrison’s Luce, whose cold, calculated attack on his surrounding peers and superiors is remarkably grounded. It embodies the cry out by several social movements in the decade. His character attacks the system, using psychological warfare, with a violent attack on mental health, from the inside and in a world that gives him the impression he should feel lucky to be there (you can take that as being saved from the horrors of a third-world country at war, or as movement of the power of black people can’t be denied in this crisp, clean, white world). He is good here, almost exceptional, with his best seen at the end of the film with Watts, as they come to a much deeper understanding than they once thought possible.

You could argue that, with a little understanding of Fanon’s teachings (even though the film really avoids verbally communicating the context of that, but does with underlining themes and meanings), Luce may be telegraphed — which is a frequent complaint that comes with films adapted from this type of source material. Luce though is so well written, performed, and multi-layered, the journey becomes much more psychologically suspenseful and engrossing, no matter its destination.

Luce is a strategic thriller whose characters are always set to a thoughtful boil. Lee’s scripted combination of white guilt and black existentialism is like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s one of the year’s very best films and maybe the finest film adapted from a play this decade.

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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Luce Review: One of the Year’s Best Movies

Luce, a Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer-led drama about various types of racial expectations in America, is an absolute must-see.

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It is a given that expectations can be a double-edged sword. Yet what can be ambiguous is how those expectations are wielded. When someone is stereotyped to fail the menace is self-evident, but what if they are stereotyped to succeed, and what if those preconceived notions prove as much a filter as an aspiration? Such is the incredibly difficult conversation that Luce broaches in its taut running time. While it errs under two hours, its impact haunts long after the credits roll.

A drama about a tinderbox of good intentions, and the spark that threatens to bring it all down, Luce is the story of its namesake, an all-star high school student who administrators and peers alike compare to Obama, although some without the irony. In actuality, Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a brilliant young man all his own, the valedictorian of his school, a popular athlete, and the person that his most skeptical teacher, Ms. Harriet Wilson ( Octavia Spencer ) expects, even needs, to do amazing things. This is all a feather in the cap of his parents Amy and Peter ( Naomi Watts and Tim Roth ), who adopted Luce from Africa after a troubled childhood defined by seven years of hell. He held a gun before he ever touched a calculator.

The poster boy of the American Dream, he seems to have it all, which makes Ms. Wilson discovering illegal fireworks in his locker so disquieting. She felt the urge to search it after she requested students to assume the voice and rhetoric of a historic figure, and he turned in a paper that seemingly advocated violence. But his mother appears right in her skepticism when she is summoned into an off-the-books parent-teacher conference about how they should address this… or perhaps cover it up. What both women seem to be missing in this equation is that Luce—a young man whose name was created by his parents because they could not pronounce his original one—actually has strong opinions of his own on the matter. Not that Ms. Wilson would probably like to know, as she’s ruined the academic careers of other black students, and friends of Luce, for less.

One of the most probing films I’ve seen in 2019, Luce is a masterclass of theatrical adaptation. Working from his own play, J.C. Lee transfers the drama from stage to screen so seamlessly that it was not until it was over that I realized it was anything approaching stagebound. Rather this is a powerful piece of cinema that is acutely intelligent in its mounting tension, taking on the propulsion of a thriller even as it never actually reaches for anything so melodramatic. Rather this is a character piece in which preconceived notions and well-meaning characters implicitly and then explicitly push their worldviews into direct conflict. By turning an American high school into a Rorschach Test of 21st century politics, Lee and director Julius Onah compel viewers to consider the complexities of racial biases in American life, including from those who outwardly resist having any.

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Becoming a parable about the doubt, or maybe just denial, white parents Amy and Peter can have over their own son, as well as the conflicted hurdles placed before the African-American experience, including by other people of color who are living it, Luce constantly asks viewers to both reexamine their relationship with these characters and their own personal biases. This is achieved in no small part due to the talent of the whole ensemble. Watts in particular shines as a mother who has always put her love for her son above herself, and continues to do so even when he gives her express reasons to second guess it, right down to midway through the film pushing her away and calling her “Amy” instead of Mom.

Still, the heart of the film is the tension between instructor and pupil, Ms. Wilson and Luce. Harrison is superbly confident and charismatic in his all-American normalcy, but given Luce literally had to learn what “American” means (he has a fascinating monologue about only learning of holidays at the age of eight), the fact that his nature is a learned behavior escapes everyone except his least favorite teacher.

Hence when he attempts to provoke Ms. Wilson in a high-minded debate prep, the give-and-take between him and Spencer is not dissimilar to the potential violence populating the space between a drill sergeant and an unconvinced recruit. She is trying to cast him in her own image of what being a black American should be, and his resentment walks the line between justified and terrifying in its duplicity. The pair’s third act confrontation is as explosive as any illegal fireworks, with Spencer savoring the best material she’s had in years.

read more: Must See Movies of 2019

All of this is conveyed by Onah and Harrison as something of a poker game where the whole film is guarding their cards, and Luce’s true reaction to the pressure, a hair’s breadth away from their chest. When they eventually reveal their hand, and Luce truly speaks his mind, it is not nearly as satisfying as the build-up, which keeps viewers on edge while composers Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury musically twist the knife. Nevertheless, the questions Luce raise more than make up for a resolution that must concede there are no easy answers to the mystery of race in America, even in its most enlightened enclaves. But at a time where media chases safe, digestible solutions that satisfy the intersection of corporate checklists and social media platitudes, running toward an unknown destination gives Luce a searing immediacy. We follow close behind, certain in our confusion that this direction is right.

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David Crow is the Film Section Editor at Den of Geek. He’s also a member of the Online Film Critics Society. Read more of his work here . You can follow him on Twitter @DCrowsNest .

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David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…

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Summary An all-star high school athlete and accomplished debater, Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a poster boy for the new American Dream. As are his parents (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth), who adopted him from a war-torn country a decade earlier. When Luce’s teacher (Octavia Spencer) makes a shocking discovery in his locker, Luce’s stellar reputation ... Read More

Directed By : Julius Onah

Written By : J.C. Lee, Julius Onah

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‘Luce’ movie review — An American (dream) crime story

Luce  follows a mystery surrounding a small town's golden child and him and his parents' run-in with a teacher bent on his demise. .

30-second review:   Luce is so successful because its story has a clear message and point-of-view it wants to communicate, but director  Julius Onah  presents it in a completely fresh and original way. Though at its core it's an emotional family drama, it plays more like a psychological thriller — and sometimes horror.  Its twisting plot sometimes gets in the way of its social commentary, but overall  Luce is an unpredictable and extremely entertaining exploration of the morals that we built our country on. Plus, Kelvin Harrison Jr. gives an Oscar-worthy performance — he's a star on the rise. Where to watch Luce : Now playing in theaters. 

Full review below ?

You're going to need to suspend disbelief a bit when watching Luce . Not because the world it takes place is any different than ours — it is our world and country — and not because the story is that ludicrous. It's just clear that the story and characters are designed to deliver a message. An extremely timely message in our polarized political moment. And while many movies have dealt with the strained race relations in our country, Luce is more complex.

Luce ( Kelvin Harrison Jr. following up his breakout in It Comes at Night ) is the perfect American success story at his high school in the picturesque suburbs of Arlington, Virginia. Not only is he the captain of the track team, the valedictorian of his class, and star of the debate team, it seems that almost everyone in the school adores him — administrators, teachers, and students alike.

However, it wasn't always easy for Luce. We learn that he was adopted from war-torn country Eritrea by white parents Amy ( Naomi Watts ) and Peter ( Tim Roth ) Edgar who had the tough rehabilitating the former child soldier. And though they often refer to how rough his childhood and upbringing was, they look at him with pride over his accomplishments.

There is one person that doesn't completely buy Luce's charisma and agreeable demeanor — and trust me when I say Harrison makes you fall for Luce. His American History teacher Harriet Wilson ( Octavia Spencer doing her best work in years) is wary of him, especially after reading an essay where he defends African writer Frantz Fanon and his call to combat colonization with violence. To make matters worse, Ms. Wilson searches Luce's locker and finds a brown bag filled with powerful fireworks. 

She takes them to Amy who has to decide whether to confront her son or hide that she knows about their existence in the first place. She decides to hide them in a cabinet in their kitchen and hold a confrontation for another time — or never. However, in the twisting narrative of the film, the fireworks are quickly discovered by Luce, which sets off a chain of confrontations and deceptions and moral quandaries ranging in themes from tokenism, race, class, sexuality, nature versus nurture, and even more.   

Luce operates on multiple levels at once. At the center, there is this central mystery around Luce. How genuine and harmless is he? Is he predisposed to violence because of his background? Did he know about the fireworks? But the discourse runs so much deeper than that. Every character is dealing with some struggle that tests the very fabric of our society. If it sounds dramatic, it is. But it's never overwrought or sentimental. 

Though it may seem a bit heavy-handed with its themes and message, that's the point. The movie is designed to make you question the characters and your loyalty to them. In one magnificent scene, Luce indirectly confronts Ms. Wilson with his knowledge of the fireworks and their discovery. Harrison — who is truly brilliant and Oscar-worthy — makes you question Luce's motivations by making his delivery both sincere, but with a sinister tinge that is genuinely terrifying. With a few changes in the plot, Luce could easily have been a horror movie. 

That's the brilliance of Julius Onah's direction. He doesn't allow the movie to be constrained by any one genre as he switches perspectives between Amy, Luce, and Ms. Wilson. Even more, he gives Watts, Harrison, and Spencer room to dive into each of their characters to the point that each feels so lived in, even when the plot gets more convoluted and staged — it is based on a play after all.

I can't understate how thrilling it is to watch Luce . You're kept guessing at every moment. In one scene late in the movie, a character for one second breaks their usual demeanor for a split second in a way that is both endearing and completely terrifying. There are more of those moments throughout. Moments where you don't know whether to laugh or cringe. If I was watching this on stage, I would applaud. Luce is made of those brilliant moments. Be ready for a ride. 

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Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.

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‘Luce’ Review: Race, Privilege and Every Parent’s Nightmare

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

In the middle of a summer of dumb fun and comic-book escapism, it’s some kind of miracle to find a film as seriously ambitious, scrappy and suspenseful as Luce. A provocation about race, privilege and the expectations that come with both, the movie follows the title character, played by star-in-the-making Kelvin Harrison Jr. He’s an African-American student and academic all-star at the Arlington, Virginia high school he attends. His white parents, a doctor named Amy ( Naomi Watts ) and a financier named Peter (Tim Roth), couldn’t be prouder; they adopted Luce at age seven from war-torn Eritrea, where he was trained to kill as part of a gun-toting army of children.

A decade of rehab and adjustment under their care has turned this young man into a first-rate athlete, a hyper-sharp debate team captain and the perfect choice to for senior-class valedictorian. During a run-through for a graduation speech about how much he owes America, the camera catches the usually smiling, supremely confident Luce alone and opening weeping. It’s the only time we see him so shaken, and the moment pins you to your seat. Who is this teenager so weighed down by the assumptions people make about him?

That’s the movie, and it’s riveting from start to finish. Nigerian-American director Julius Onah, who adapted J.C. Lee’s 2013 Off-Broadway play with the writer himself, knows what it’s like to be boxed into how others see you. His previous film, the 2018 Netflix film The Cloverfield Paradox , was a big-budget sci-fi clunker. But with his latest, Onah is out to show he can get audiences to challenge the very roots of what they believe.

He does this by putting Luce on a pedestal and then proceeding to rattle the ground underneath it. Suddenly, the public image of this bright young man is being questioned. His teacher and mentor, Harriet Wilson ( Octavia Spencer ), is feeling shaky in her faith regarding the school’s exemplar. In response to her request to write an essay about a historical figure he admires, Luce chooses the revolutionary African writer Frantz Fanon, who advocated violence to fight colonization. Wilson is so unnerved, she searches the teen’s locker and finds illegal fireworks. Is he a potential terrorist? Is the violence instilled in him as a child only lying dormant, ready to re-erupt?

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Wilson turns to Luce’s parents and the result is mutually defensive. The confrontation scene between Spencer and Watts builds to an unbearable tension, heightened by the camera artistry of Larkin Seiple and the jangling score Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury. Spencer, brilliant in one of the edgiest roles she has ever played, is a catalyst for high drama as the audience wonders if Wilson is justified in her actions or pushing a personal agenda fueled by personal resentment against Luce who she believes participated in a sexual assault against a former girlfriend, Stephanie Kim (Andrea Bang).

Through it all, the mysterious, magnificent Harrison holds us in thrall, nailing every nuance — the breakout star of It Comes at Night is even more spectacular here. Luce is buffeted by winds that whip him whenever he refuses to conform to the expectations his family, friends, school, and adopted country set for him. Near the end, the film hints at answers, but hardly a resolution. How could it, with the hot button of race being pressed indiscriminately from the streets to the White House? You may leave this too-talky film a little frustrated, but you won’t be unmoved. It’s a penetrating examination of the constant battle of trying to see past our prejudices. It’s truly a movie of and for its time.

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Directed by Julius Onah

The truth has many faces

A star athlete and top student, Luce's idealized image is challenged by one of his teachers when his unsettling views on political violence come to light, putting a strain on family bonds while igniting intense debates on race and identity.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. Naomi Watts Octavia Spencer Tim Roth Norbert Leo Butz Andrea Bang Marsha Stephanie Blake Omar Brunson Noah Gaynor Astro Christopher Mann Hannah Cabell Colton Osorio Gibson Frazier Ian Unterman Meredith Holzman Liza J. Bennett Samantha Posey Souléymane Sy Savané Mfoniso Udofia Rachel Wenitsky Amanda Troya Zoe Whitford

Director Director

Julius Onah

Producers Producers

John Baker Jeffrey Penman Julius Onah Andrew Yang Eric Ro Marshall Johnson

Writers Writers

Julius Onah J.C. Lee

Original Writer Original Writer

Casting casting.

Jessica Kelly Rebecca Dealy

Editor Editor

Madeleine Gavin

Cinematography Cinematography

Larkin Seiple

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Kenyon Noble Cassandra Santiago Curtis Smith

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

J.C. Lee Amber Wang Rob Feng

Lighting Lighting

Gavin Curran

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Sam Ellison Dave Isern

Production Design Production Design

Art direction art direction.

Danica Pantic

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Nicki Ritchie

Special Effects Special Effects

Drew Jiritano

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Stunts stunts.

Riley Barnes Frank Bal Anthony Vincent Luke Lesko Hannah Scott

Composers Composers

Geoff Barrow Ben Salisbury

Sound Sound

Pam DeMetruis-Thomas Nick Seaman Leslie Shatz Allison Jackson Ryan Collison Leslie Bloome

Costume Design Costume Design

Keri Langerman

Makeup Makeup

Linda Kaufman Chansopheak Tong

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Diana Sikes Serena Ryan

Dream Factory Group Altona Filmhaus New Tropics Endeavor Content Topic Studios

Releases by Date

27 jan 2019, theatrical limited, 02 aug 2019, 07 nov 2019, 08 nov 2019, 05 jun 2020, 13 oct 2020, 09 mar 2021, 02 oct 2021, 29 oct 2019, 25 mar 2020, 01 jul 2020, releases by country.

• Physical M DVD
• Physical DVD & Blu-Ray
• Digital 12 Netflix
• Theatrical 15A
• Digital PG12

Netherlands

• Digital 18+
• Theatrical 15
• Premiere Sundance Film Festival
• Theatrical limited R
• Physical R DVD

109 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by LetMeExplain ★★★★ 8

We Need To Talk About Kelvin

Review by demi adejuyigbe ★★★★ 10

"What's the difference between punishing someone for being a stereotype and rewarding them if they're not?"

An impressive, almost Shakespearean drama about the 'American Dream' as it intertwines with perceptions of race and identity– all told with the doubly-impressive goal of making you identify and root for a teenage sociopath. Thank god the director behind The Cloverfield Paradox also had this in him.

Review by Lucy ★★★★ 2

“it’s not that simple” “nothing ever is”

handled with delicate complexity that left me questioning every word and every glance. not much is answered, but it doesn’t matter anyways. what’s more important is the perception of identity and what it means to be good or bad. and how there’s barely an in between. this was sensational

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★ 3

i think it's ultimately a bit too writerly (i was not surprised to see this was adapted from a play) but was still fairly impressed by the ease with which it adds code-switching and identity politics to the taut, gaslight thriller. the weaponization of ideological ambiguity and social dynamics into larger ideas of political/personal expectations is solid, the performances are a little more complicated than the writing is and it most impressively has very few illusions of grandeur. a couple of scenes reveal a bit too much of the game ("our lives didn't have to be a political statement") but the film ends appropriately on notes of confusion and ambivalence, offering very few answers to its many questions on racial stereotypes, cultural assimilation, and liberal respectability; only a slow ramping of unsettling contradictions.

Review by Muriel 4

i can't stop picturing octavia spencer as Ma

Review by kevinyang ★★★ 2

It’s a very interesting premise delivered by very capable performers, but this is another example of a premise stretched thin when converted from play to screenplay. I like everything the film explores as ideas - most notably performative black masculinity and the ways in which it is shaped by white anxieties and biases. However, the film slowly but surely loses control of the plot until it’s spinning in place, with nothing new or interesting added to the story beyond superficially tense confrontations. It therefore ends in a place that is more muddled than purposefully ambiguous or provocative. I’m also not a fan of its treatment of mental illness, which comes across as dismissive and driven by shock value. Overall the film has plenty of great moments, but it can’t get beyond its own trappings on the whole.

Review by Patrick Willems ★★★ 2

Watching it I kept thinking "this seems like a play," and then the end credits came and surprise! turns out it's based on a play

Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 13

Holy shit. What a way to comeback after directing The Cloverfield Paradox, which I didn't hate but this is beyond next level in comparison. Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth & Kelvin Harrison Jr. (!!) all destroying it in their respective roles. And then we've got J.C. Lee's brilliantly theatrical writing, Madeleine Gavin's editing (Nerve, Mean Creek, etc.), Larkin Seiple's cinematography (Swiss Army Man, Cop Car, etc.), and Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury (Ex Machina, Annihilation, etc.) channeling a combination of their inner Max Richter & something along the lines of Jamie xx's "Gosh." Yeah, I shouldn't have slept on this while it was in theatres.

Review by ˗ˏˋ suspirliam ˊˎ˗ ★★★★

it really do be that serious

Review by Kim_Cardassian ★★ 11

"I understand context."

Okay, so listen. Reviews for this thing have been golden. It has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes at time of writing, which does seem to reflect what most audiences are feeling about it right now. It's getting praise left and right. Kelvin Harrison Jr, so good in It Comes at Night, seems primed to break out via this movie. It's packed to the gills with stars. It's a psychological thriller that directly attacks social ills, which is one of my favorite kinds of films.

But I gotta be honest; I thought it was a crock of shit. That's just me, obviously, but I want to reiterate that a lot of people love this movie, so it's…

Review by Matt Neglia ★★★★½ 1

LUCE...OMG!! What a film! Deception, betrayal, acceptance, prejudice, individuality, racism & assumption. This is by far the best screenplay, best ensemble & best film I’ve seen at Sundance 2019. Naomi Watts is terrific as always while Octavia Spencer & Kelvin Harrison Jr. deliver the best performances of their careers. This screenplay is a masterpiece!

Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★½

“Luce is one of our best.”

Luce is a complicated drama that does its best to delve into the minds of its characters, especially teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer) and Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.). Taking place in Arlington, Virginia, it tackles such topics as adoption, social injustice, and mental illness. 

Luce really is an exploration of these themes, providing no easy answers. In the Q&A, Julius Onah references the multitudes of identity and talked about the “full spectrum of humanity”. There certainly is a lot to dig through as Luce works through his issues as a top student who might want more of a normal life or at least less pressure. His adoptive and understanding parents (Tim Roth, Naomi…

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Critic’s Pick

‘Luce’ Review: A Star Student Tests His Teacher’s Limits

To say that this feature unfolds like a play is both accurate and undersells just how gorgeously it has been rendered for the screen.

• Share full article

By Ben Kenigsberg

The title character of “Luce” is introduced as a star student and first-rate apple polisher. Speaking to a school auditorium, he lavishes praise on parents and teachers, who surely love to hear it.

But Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) may have an incendiary side. His history and government teacher, Ms. Wilson (Octavia Spencer), summons his mother (Naomi Watts) to discuss a paper he wrote. The assignment was to adopt the voice of a historical figure. Luce chose Frantz Fanon, which, in itself, might be another sign of precocity. “The Wretched of the Earth” isn’t regular high school reading, after all, and if other students could write as Fidel Castro, why not Fanon?

But given that Luce was adopted, and spent his early childhood learning to a shoot a gun in strife-riven Eritrea, and that he has parroted Fanon’s views on violence during a time of vigilance around violence in schools, Ms. Wilson felt compelled to search his locker. Whether that incursion should be seen as legally justified gets debated in another scene.

The parent-teacher confrontation brings sensitive questions to the fore. How well do Luce’s parents know their son? (Tim Roth plays Luce’s father.) How much has Ms. Wilson allowed her expectations of Luce to influence her actions — and is her behavior emblematic of hypocrisy surrounding race and success in the United States? (The film is pointedly set in Arlington, Va., a stone’s throw from Washington.)

Like Ms. Wilson, Luce is black. His parents and the school’s principal (Norbert Leo Butz) are white. And all the authority figures regard Luce as an exemplar student and athlete, someone to encourage and protect. An African-American teammate (the rapper Astro), punished for drug use similar to Luce’s pot smoking, acidly suggests to Luce that they regard him as an Obama figure — a rare black man whom they feel O.K. elevating.

The film proceeds dialectically, with each scene adding a wrinkle to the characters’ motives. To say that it unfolds like a play is both accurate and undersells how gorgeously it has been rendered for the screen. “Luce” had its origins onstage at Lincoln Center , and the screenplay was written by the playwright, J C Lee, and the director, Julius Onah. But Onah (“The Cloverfield Paradox”), shooting on 35 millimeter, has thought through the staging in cinematic terms, lighting a school library and suburban kitchens as cold, ominous spaces. During his closing words, Luce addresses the camera directly.

Harrison, who has to embody the incongruities of Luce’s code switching and possible masterminding (in a rare scene that rings false, he has a Max Cady-like encounter with Ms. Wilson at the supermarket), is the breakout of a uniformly excellent cast. Acting as someone who feels compelled to act a certain way is not easy, and the film is interested in stripping away layers of artifice, then building them up again.

Rated R. Teenagers when school is out. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes.

Review by Brian Eggert August 18, 2019

A screen adaptation of JC Lee’s off-Broadway play, Luce is a provocation aimed at the sociopolitical zeitgeist, asking its audience to quarrel over the complexity of the moral questions it raises. If you hold true to any ideals concerning racism, the privilege and expectation of class, accusations of sexual assault, identity in America, violence in schools, or the lasting effects of slavery, chances are you will walk away from the film with some strong feelings. Contributing to the screen story along with Lee, Nigerian-American director Julius Onah, whose forgettable The Cloverfield Paradox from last year seems like the work of another filmmaker, assembles a brilliant cast that gives impassioned performances. Onah navigates a situation that recalls the form and content of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989), in that he employs a stagelike drama to ask questions about America for which there are no right answers, just an ongoing dialogue, which the material hopes the audience will investigate for themselves.

Luce is a debate prompt. It even invokes the setting of a high school debate, a stage-within-a-stage to talk about its issues. In that sense, the playwright’s material openly acknowledges its relationship with the audience, hoping the drive home afterward will be a loaded conversation about serious issues affecting America today. It centers on African American teenager Luce Edgar, who served as a child soldier in an Eritrea “war zone” until a decade ago when he was adopted by Amy and Peter Edgar (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, reteaming in husband and wife roles after the remake of Funny Games ). Kelvin J. Harrison stars as Luce, having already impressed with his breakout role in It Comes at Night (2018). After years of processing the experiences of his early life, Luce is now poised and thriving under a veil of white privilege, impressing everyone with his personal, academic, and extracurricular achievements, not to mention the promise of his future. 

The son of proud parents and a particular favorite of the school principal, Luce’s life seems to be picture-perfect until his history teacher, Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), reads a paper he wrote from the perspective of Frantz Fanon, the post-colonial philosopher who wrote, “Violence is man re-creating himself.” Ms. Wilson, disturbed by the content of the paper, which nonetheless fulfilled the requirements of the assignment, goes into Luce’s locker and finds a bag of illegal fireworks. She assumes the worst and raises the issue with Amy in a parent-teacher conference. Despite them both dismissing Fanon as obscure—the two adults apparently hold no interest in postcolonial studies, resolving that Luce “probably stumbled onto Frantz Fanon on the internet”—the matter becomes a concern for Amy and Peter. They begin to question Luce’s intentions, doubting whether the years of deprogramming failed. Is Luce secretly a radical? Or does Ms. Wilson harbor a secret grudge against the star student, as Luce claims? 

Looking closer at their adopted son, the parents reveal themselves, from Amy’s jealous support to Peter’s willingness to acknowledge that Luce might be trying to antagonize his teacher. At the same time, Luce hints that Ms. Wilson may have an agenda that holds him and other students up to an unreasonable standard. His friend DeShaun (Astro) and ex-girlfriend Stephanie Kim (Andrea Bang) have been the target of Ms. Wilson’s attention, as she outed the former for marijuana use and hinted that the latter should be an example to others after some rumors of sexual impropriety. Ms. Wilson says that “context matters,” and she wants her Black students to avoid becoming victims of stereotyping, but she seems to ignore that there’s a problem with asking a Black kid with a troubled past to constantly live up to the expectations that would be placed on a white student. It’s another form of tokenism, and she cannot see that. Meanwhile, whenever his parents try to get at the truth, Luce looks suspiciously innocent, while the facts of the situation don’t always align. 

Without giving too much away about a film that serves as a social thriller as much as a polemic, Luce seems to confirm the audience’s worst fears about its characters to make a point. The material confronts wokeness with a student that orchestrates acts of elaborate revenge, another student that fabricates her victimhood and uses it as a weapon, and parents complicit in the worst way. It calls out the trouble with confirmation biases, and then it proves those biases to be true among its characters. The screenplay tends to feel on-the-nose, except it’s not exactly clear what it’s trying to expose, aside from everything . The implications leave the film open to misinterpretation. With that, it’s important to avoid the temptation to view everything that happens in the film as making a grand statement about these issues as wide-ranging truisms, even though the screenplay waves its “this is about America” flag more than once. Instead, the film operates better under the adage: “You never really know what’s going on with people.” 

What works best about Luce is not the post-film conversation. Admittedly, the film is too obviously an attempt to motivate a dialogue; you can see Lee and Onah hoping to arouse the viewer into a debate, maneuvering to implant suspicion, ambiguity, and doubt at every turn. It’s difficult for a film like this to take us by surprise after a while because it has been so elaborately engineered to instigate. But it does garner our appreciation for its craft. The incredibly acted scenes are immersive, with Harrison Jr. delivering a cagey performance, where it’s apparent that Luce’s real self is always a layer or two removed from what we’re seeing. The scenes between Watts and Roth are loaded as well, while Spencer has rarely been better. Luce is at its best when the plotting functions as a puzzle and the actors keep us guessing about their characters’ motivations. There’s no sense of truth to derive from the deeply theatrical experience, but the experience itself engages.

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Movie Review: Luce

Provocative film explores the dangers of white noblesse oblige..

It’s an African American teacher at the school, Ms. Wilson (Octavia Spencer) who suspects that Luce isn’t as well-adjusted as he seems. In class, she gives the kids an assignment to write in the voice of an historical figure and he chooses Frantz Fanon, a radical French West Indian philosopher who railed against racism and believed that using violence against oppressors was always justified. Disturbed by this, she takes it upon herself to search Luce’s locker, where she finds a bag of fireworks. Does Luce have the potential for violence? Or is he just a smart kid who did the assignment? (He claims the fireworks weren’t his; he and his teammates sometimes share lockers.)

Luce is now playing at the Charles Theatre .

5 new movies coming to Netflix in September with over 91% on Rotten Tomatoes

Including a Studio Ghibli gem with a 100% rating

Netflix has revealed that there are some great new titles arriving next month. Looking at everything new on Netflix in September , we've spotted plenty among the lineup that we're excited to watch, including several new Netflix movies that were all well-received by critics and viewers alike. 

We all know the struggle: Netflix's library is big and ever-growing, making it difficult to actually settle in and find something to watch, which is why we've done the hard work for you to pick out the most highly rated movies that are coming to the best streaming service in September.

I've pulled together a real mix of genres in this list, so no matter whether you're after sci-fi, animation or a Steven Spielberg classic, there's something for everyone. Here are my top five acclaimed movie picks on Netflix, along with why I think they're worth your time. Plenty of other critics would agree, too!

Edge of Tomorrow 

Netflix release date: September 7 RT Score:  91% Length:  113 minutes Director:  Doug Liman Main cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson

If you're after a gripping action flick that's as funny as it is thrilling, Edge of Tomorrow is the perfect choice. Set in a future where most of Europe is being invaded by an alien race, a public relations officer with limited combat experience is forced by his superiors to fight against the aliens, only to find himself experiencing a time loop in the process. We've got our fair share of time loop movies now, like Happy Death Day and, of course, Groundhog Day , but this one is definitely up there.

Not to mention, it's got a brilliant cast too. Action royalty Tom Cruise is joined by A Quiet Place 's Emily Blunt, The Sinner 's Bill Paxton and The Banshees of Inisherin 's Brendan Gleeson, so you're in for a real treat performance wise. Entertainment writer Grace Morris also says that the movie is one of her favorite sci-fi movies – to find out why, read her article about why Edge of Tomorrow deserves a sequel . 

Netflix release date: September 1 RT Score: 97% Length: 124 minutes Director: Steven Spielberg Main cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw

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Jaws is one of those movies you shouldn't confess you've never seen otherwise you'll get a chorus of "what do you mean you haven't seen Jaws ?!". But hey, I'm not here to judge if you haven't seen one of the best Netflix movies . Luckily, you'll be able to soon stream the Spielberg classic, so you can rectify that situation – and trust me, you really should, especially if you caught the terribly rated Netflix shark movie Under Paris in June.  Or, if you're anything like me, you can decide you want to watch it for the millionth time now it's part of Netflix's library. Here are five more fun Netflix monster movies to watch after you've caught up with this classic.  

In this masterpiece that blows other shark movies out of the water, Sheriff Brody teams up with a marine biologist and a local fisherman to hunt down a great white shark who has been attacking locals. But it's so much more than that, and considering you barely see the shark, it's more about the dynamic between these three very different men, and the quirks of Amity Island. There's also a very punchable mayor character too, if that takes your fancy. 

Midnight Run

Netflix release date: September 1 RT Score: 95% Length: 126 minutes Director: Martin Brest Main cast: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton

Robert De Niro isn't just about gangsters and hard-boiled roles, he's also a very effective comedic actor. Personally, I loved him most in Stardust but I digress, he's just as good in Midnight Run . He's a bounty hunter here, who is hired by a bail bondsman to find an accountant and bring him to Los Angeles. This accountant has got himself in heaps of trouble involving money and the mob, which we all know never ends well. 

If you like unlikely duos, De Niro's bounty hunter and Charles Grodin's embezzling accountant are sure to deliver laughs, and Danny Elfman provides a banging soundtrack as always, so it's a very well-rounded piece indeed.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Netflix release date: September 1 RT Score: 95% Length: 85 minutes Director: Nick Park Main cast: Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay

We've really come a long way from A Grand Day Out , where one man and his dog flew to the moon in search of cheese. Like, they could've just gone to the corner store I guess, but that wouldn't have been a very good short film. 

Ever since then, Wallace and Gromit have gone global and advanced from shorts to feature-length movies, with The Curse of the Were-Rabbit being their first proper big screen appearance. Parodying monster movies with classic British hilarity, this labor of love took five years to make, because stop-motion animation is no easy medium. It was worth it though, and a second feature-length movie about everyone's favorite feathered outlaw Feathers McGraw, Vengeance Most Fowl , hits the streamer in December.

Grave of the Fireflies

Netflix release date: September 16 RT Score: 100% Length: 89 minutes Director: Isao Takahata Main cast: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, Akemi Yamaguchi

If you've been through our list of every Studio Ghibli movie ranked , you'll know that Grave of the Fireflies is considered the studio's darkest movie. Indeed, you'll need your tissues for this one. This haunting animated movie follows two siblings who are orphaned by an air raid during World War II, and have to try and survive in Kobe, Japan, most of which had been destroyed during the close of the Pacific War.

While it's not an easy movie by any means, it is an essential watch as it's widely regarded as one of the best war movies of all time. If you're in the mood for further devastation, both emotionally and literally on screen, I would also recommend When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs, a British movie which follows a similar premise, seeing an elderly couple trying to survive a nuclear war. For more anime, here's where to watch Studio Ghibli films from anywhere .

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Lucy is a long-time movie and television lover who is an approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. She has written several reviews in her time, starting with a small self-ran blog called Lucy Goes to Hollywood before moving onto bigger websites such as What's on TV and What to Watch, with TechRadar being her most recent venture. Her interests primarily lie within horror and thriller, loving nothing more than a chilling story that keeps her thinking moments after the credits have rolled. Many of these creepy tales can be found on the streaming services she covers regularly.

When she’s not scaring herself half to death with the various shows and movies she watches, she likes to unwind by playing video games on Easy Mode and has no shame in admitting she’s terrible at them. She also quotes The Simpsons religiously and has a Blinky the Fish tattoo, solidifying her position as a complete nerd. 

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Spartacus – Season 1, Episode 13

Kill them all, cast & crew.

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Episode Info