Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Norbert Leo Butz, Andrea Bang, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Astro, Omar Shariff Brunson Jr., Noah Gaynor, Amanda Troyer, Christopher Mann, Hannah Cabell, Liza J. Bennett.

The relationship between teacher and student is one that is precariously balanced, too much expectation and it can damage the social standing of the pupil in question, the precious psyche that comes from peer pressure as they grow to resent the one seemingly being favoured; too little input and the feeling of unworthiness hits home like a hammer on wood, the splinters and cracks are there forever.

Teachers spend so much time with pupils that it is important to remember that conflicts and concerns can flare up at the drop of a hat, as they can inside a parental household and we must remember that teachers, and pupils, are fallible, prone to mistakes, as much as anyone.

The light that is promised is one of careful nurturing, and yet with a single wrong word, with an overly protective arm, with an action rooted in a case of perceived injustice, the walls of that relationship start to crumble, to crack, to fall and threaten to let through the wolves of social anxiety, unhappiness and fury through.

J.C. Lee’s exceptionally observed drama, Luce, is one that is key to understanding such dynamics, especially with the way it delves into the mind of an adopted Eritrean teenager who had seen nothing but war and fear in the early part of his life, and who, at least on the outside, was embracing the expectation and desire of the American way, being popular, solving friends’ problems, being skilled at school.

It is underneath that the real side of his story comes to light, and with the superb Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Tim Roth all acting as a counterpoint to Kelvin Harrison Jr.’s outstanding vision of Luce Edgar. He provides the sense of obligation, the damage created by years of hostility and then finding a place, as a young black man, with two adoptive white parents to whom he loses his name because the mother figure couldn’t pronounce his given name, the fitting in with those who see the world on the fringes whilst being given what many would see as a privilege; all these small moments combine to bring out a different light in the man, one that is fuelled by injustice on all sides.

A film of consequence, of depth and shattered illusions, Luce is a remarkable story that shows that we can be many things to many different people, but if we are not true to ourselves then the rest is just deception, that the light is dimmed by what it allows to be illuminated.

Ian D. Hall