Tense and keeps you guessing, but somehow the stakes never seem so high as to justify the level of intensity. Great performances, great dialogue, and thought provoking racial commentary make it worth seeing though.

A slightly repetitive, but nonetheless fascinating societal drama that rewards concentration

One of my key concerns with Luce, and intertwined with exploring identity, is exploring power – who has it, who doesn't, and how our institutions uphold the rigid systems of power that disadvantage certain demographics. So much of the dialogue in our culture right now is about confronting systems of power that disenfranchise women, the LGBTQIA community, people of colour, people with disabilities, and a myriad of other marginalised groups. Luce explores how life can be experienced by those... read the rest.

Kelvin Harrison Jnr treads the line between perfect student and perfect demon with some aplomb in this film. Naomi Watts and Tim Roth also provide a credible set of parents facing problems with both their (adopted) son and with their own relationship. Octavia Spencer stands out too - but I have to say, I don't find there to be much cohesion here. Certainly, the threads address issues of racial and gender stereotyping, but they don't intertwine in any particularly convincing way. I had to make quite a number of assumptions to make any sense of the ending - perhaps that was the plan - but it left... read the rest.