Luce  ★★★

IT MAY be based on a stage play, but Luce surprisingly does not look it.

Usually you can tell, but in this case the force of the characters and their portrayals seems to transcend their settings.

Kelvin Harrison Jnr, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts and Tim Roth all deliver performances that hold the attention and focus, ensuring the viewer has no reason to think about how minimal the location or set-ups may be.

With his third film, Nigerian-born director Julius Onah uses his cast wisely and lets them do the heavy work, delivering J.C Lee’s script with quiet dignity and power.

Harrison Jnr is exceptional as the adopted son of Amy and Peter Edgar. Rescued from a wretched and dangerous future as a boy soldier in war-torn Eritrea, with the constant support of his parents Luce has embraced life and opportunities in America and become a first-grade student, valedictorian and team captain.

Luce is loved and respected by all his teachers with a seemingly brilliant career ahead as a lawyer, politician or whatever path he chooses.

But cracks start to appear when his history teacher Harriet Wilson (Spencer) treats an assignment Luce hands in as a worrying sign.

Luce’s essay has been written from the viewpoint of Frantz Omar Fanon, a French West Indian psychiatrist and political philosopher who wrote about the  human, social, and cultural consequences of decolonisation, suggesting activist violence was a necessary evil in combating oppression.

The ferocity and passion with which Luce has embraced the exercise has disturbed Harriet who is already the only person in the teaching faculty not completely enamoured. She sees the importance of Luce’s achievements and recognises his incredible potential, but believes there are several warning signs in his personality.

Through other events she comes to believe, and increasingly warn, that Luce is hiding his true character and potentially a dangerous side, bringing her into conflict with Luce and his parents.

At times the film’s pace is a little too slow and it loses momentum, but its strength is the thought-provoking script that explores several themes including racism, the politics of violence and the pressures we place on ourselves and others to succeed.

The entire cast does excellent work but Harrison Jnr has to convince the audience that he could be one of two people, a difficult task that he carefully navigates.

Unfortunately I haven’t seen his previous praised performances in 2017’s Mudbound and Monsters and Men from 2018, but will definitely get to his next film, the much-awaited Waves.

Luce raises many interesting questions, but perhaps doesn’t deliver enough answers to satisfy the general audience.