Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) was adopted as a child by Amy and Peter Edgar (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth). Despite his origins in war torn Eritrea he has grown to be an outstanding student with a bright future. That is until his teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer) raises concerns over a controversial assignment that Luce wrote that might indicate his philosophy may be skewed by his history.

Based on a play by J.C. Lee and adapted into a film by him and director Julius Onah, Luce is a film that covers a number of subjects under the guise of a thriller. The question marks of whether it is Luce or Harriet that holds the actual grudge might not hold for long but it’s an interesting framework to hang the moral questions on. Does America put people into boxes based on their skin colour? How far would we go to protect our family? What resentments do families hold towards each other?

The performances are very strong and Kelvin Harrison Jr. really delivers in a break out role after credits in a number of films. A special mention for Tim Roth as well who does a really good job of showing the struggle between what we owe society versus what we owe family.

Whilst it rises above its origins as a play cinematically it does not thematically. This is a film much more interested in the themes it wants to discuss than give you a simple ending with a resolution. It wants you to make your own mind up and decide for yourself. Something that might disappoint some when they find there is no definitive answer when the credits roll.

Intelligent and thought provoking.