This movie beat my expectations by a longshot. I might rewatch it later. I'm not a movie expert, but this is the best movie about race relations in the US that I've seen in a while.
Luce is a complex drama that cannot properly be unpacked in a short paragraph. It's a big Wow, from me. In a way, it's a superhero story without the superhero trappings. Luce has a tragic origin story, has abilities beyond those of his colleagues at school, consequently feels a responsibility to them, which manifests in a kind of vigilantism. He even has a secret identity, and there's the constant threat that he will be exposed. Superhero story. But that's a structure in which to explore many things, most powerfully, what it means to be a young black man in America. You're either an Obama, or a monster worthy of a policeman's bullet in the back. It's perfection or being denied every advantage, and the immense pressure of that, and where it comes from. The film doesn't play the race card so much as the whole race card deck. Luce's white parents who adopted him out of a war zone, well-meaning and loving colonialists. The black history teacher who comes at it from an antiquated point of view and in effect promotes notions of social naturalism at the detriment of her community. Luce himself comes from a place of privilege and not, so he can recognize it, and not. While the plot has shades of Six Degrees of Separation, at least in the way it treats identity, it provides a fuller discussion, more relevant to today. If that last shot doesn't bring things into focus, I don't know what can. And I am in love with that score. Wow.
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HebrewHammarMan
This movie beat my expectations by a longshot. I might rewatch it later. I'm not a movie expert, but this is the best movie about race relations in the US that I've seen in a while.Siskoid
Luce is a complex drama that cannot properly be unpacked in a short paragraph. It's a big Wow, from me. In a way, it's a superhero story without the superhero trappings. Luce has a tragic origin story, has abilities beyond those of his colleagues at school, consequently feels a responsibility to them, which manifests in a kind of vigilantism. He even has a secret identity, and there's the constant threat that he will be exposed. Superhero story. But that's a structure in which to explore many things, most powerfully, what it means to be a young black man in America. You're either an Obama, or a monster worthy of a policeman's bullet in the back. It's perfection or being denied every advantage, and the immense pressure of that, and where it comes from. The film doesn't play the race card so much as the whole race card deck. Luce's white parents who adopted him out of a war zone, well-meaning and loving colonialists. The black history teacher who comes at it from an antiquated point of view and in effect promotes notions of social naturalism at the detriment of her community. Luce himself comes from a place of privilege and not, so he can recognize it, and not. While the plot has shades of Six Degrees of Separation, at least in the way it treats identity, it provides a fuller discussion, more relevant to today. If that last shot doesn't bring things into focus, I don't know what can. And I am in love with that score. Wow.marco_n65
Amazing film!