Film Review – Luce

Director Julius Onah didn’t exactly win over a nation of film fans with his last picture, “The Cloverfield Paradox,” delivering a muddled, tiresome chapter in a developing sci-fi world, making sure to disappoint as many people as possible. It was a significant whiff with a hotly anticipated title, so perhaps the stripped down, theatrical presentation of “Luce” is a deliberate move back to basics, putting his camera into rooms, not the far reaches of space, to best examine guarded behavior slowly chipped away by painful truths. “Luce” (co-scripted by Onah and J.C. Lee, adapting his play) is a provocative study of parental protection and racial realities, staying tight on difficult situations of accusation, unearthing suspense much like a traditional thriller, only Onah stays with dialogue exchanges and subtle ways of acting, finding a fascinating rhythm of unease from unlikely sources. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com