ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

A Tight Luce Suit

Updated on August 6, 2019

Theatrical Bones. Movie Meat.

There’s no drape in Kelvin Harrison, Jr.’s Luce suit.

Harrison, fresh from critical acclaim for It Comes at Night and Monster, fits tight into his title character.

It doesn’t take long to realize something is going to ooze out — or explode.

JC Lee, who co-wrote Luce with Nigerian-American director Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox), presented Luce as a stage play at Lincoln Center in 2013.

Luce’s theatrical bones transfer well.

Racial problems plague American culture, but they weren't quite as raw when JC Lee's play was performed at NYC's Lincoln Center, back in 2013.
Racial problems plague American culture, but they weren't quite as raw when JC Lee's play was performed at NYC's Lincoln Center, back in 2013. | Source

This racial identity story bounces hard off the US's thinly-padded, gun-riddled racial issues.

The movie opens with the title character at the podium of a high school assembly. Seventeen-year-old Luce is an engaging public speaker, a stand-out student and track star who hangs out on the fringes, with less-than-savory friends.

Luce could be an example of how love and advantage can transform a child who spent the first decade of his life without either one of those things ... or, maybe not.

The audience absorbs Luce’s horrific beginnings, not from violent flashbacks, but from the look in Luce’s eyes and the resolve expressed by his adoptive mom Amy, played by Naomi Watts (Glass Castle, Birdman, Twin Peaks).

Rage-Repressed Teen ... or Renaissance Boy? Left to right: Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison, Jr. and Naomi Watts.
Rage-Repressed Teen ... or Renaissance Boy? Left to right: Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison, Jr. and Naomi Watts. | Source

A Poignant, Lonely Place

It was Amy’s idea, we find out, to become Tiger Mother for this young black panther.

Luce’s adoptive dad Peter, played by Tim Roth (Hateful Eight, Twin Peaks) loves his wife and son more for who they are than who the world pressures them to be.

For Roth’s character, it’s a poignant, lonely place.

Raising this “Renaissance Boy” took a toll on Amy and Peter’s marriage, but it's all been worth it. Look at him now.

Luce’s primal rage, Amy asserts, has been processed.

Or has it been frappéd?

High school history teacher Harriet Wilson, played “eyes first” by Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water, Hidden Figures) is Luce’s human blender.

Her blades start spinning right off: at a school event, Ms. Wilson offers a backhanded compliment to Amy and Peter, with a begrudging harrumph: “Luce is one of our best.”

Harriet Wilson is a complex foil for Luce, having been denied the advantages and accolades that make Luce’s back sore from all that patting. She’s a smart, tired black woman with an attitude and problems of her own.

Octavia Spencer as Harriet Wilson.
Octavia Spencer as Harriet Wilson. | Source

Luce's Standout Supporting Cast

Harriet Wilson’s emotionally challenged sister Rosemary, played by Marsha Stephanie Blake (Orange is the New Black) unabashedly loses it all, in front of a crowd of social-media savvy high schoolers.

Though her role is small, Luce’s ex-girlfriend Stephanie is played with almost embarrassing aplomb by Andrea Bang (Kim’s Convenience, Playdate).

Much of Luce’s drama takes place in the dissonance between dialogue and expression: everyone’s fuse sparks, yet no one looks in their own pants for the fire.

Luce gets help from cinematographer Larkin Seiple, whose scenes are shot in angles that lend themselves to judging or being judged. Intimate scenes project the discomfort of eavesdropping.

The use of color also underscores, from Amy and Peter’s white kitchen and the black-and-white tile shower room at Luce’s school, to the red graffiti that’s scrawled on Miss Wilson’s yellow bungalow.


Source

... Or Get Out.

Don’t expect a tight ending from Luce.

Though we are all victims and beneficiaries of expectations, it’s not just the economically oppressed, stereotyped Black Lives that Matter.

Luce, released nationwide August 2, puts its audience under pressure.

Squirm or Get Out.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)