Luce
Picture: Neon
There’s a scene early in Luce, a fascinating psychodrama about race and prejudgments, that’s as tense as any thriller, and all it truly boils down to is two individuals talking in a classroom, their stealthily respectful discussion shading into passive-aggressive antagonism. One of the two is the title character, a beaming A-student played by Kelvin Harrison Jr. The other is his government and history teacher, Ms. Wilson (Octavia Spencer), the only trainer at their Virginia high school who ever appears to challenge the star athlete, debate-club champ, and soon-to-be valedictorian– though she, too, views him as an “important example to the school,” a Black kid who’s climbed his method to the top of the class. Harrison completely catches the poise and charisma of an academic golden child, the kind who knows simply how to talk to grownups, forecasting genuineness and gratitude with simply a touch of excellent humor, so as not to come off an unlikable, Tracy Flick-like overachiever. But the actor likewise lets us see, early and typically, how that congeniality is a sort of front: an entire manufactured persona Luce can toggle on or off. And as Ms. Wilson carefully questions the promising pupil about a task he’s kipped down that’s raised some warnings for her, his mask of ingratiation slips, simply long enough for him to provide what sounds a dreadful lot like a veiled threat. It’s an amazing, chilling performance: from Harrison, definitely, but also from his character, playing code-switching mind games with his teacher. [A.A. Dowd]
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Source: https://www.avclub.com/the-best-movies-to-watch-right-now-on-hulu-1843033799