Luce (2019) review

Caucasian parents (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) adopt a child soldier from Eritrea and name him Luce (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.), but during his senior year in high school he gets into it with his history teacher (Octavia Spencer) and, despite his good grades, may not be the most upstanding young man.  The script, by Onah and J.C. Lee (based on Lee's stage play), is of the kitchen sink variety when it comes to race relations, touching on so many areas but being accountable for none of them: it brings up what it's like for white parents to raise a black child (to be viewed as saviors?) and the pressure placed on young black students by African-American teachers to be "perfect" ... and then it torments the Spencer character for being too meddling (so reading Frantz Fanon is a trigger warning?).  The suggestion that the "not black enough" Luce, with his Oxford shirts and "well spoken" manner, is using his "whiteness" to hide his sociopathic tendencies - and who would think nothing of using his Asian girlfriend to manipulate his parents and the school administrator - is ... seriously worrisome.  But then again, I'm a white guy from the suburbs: I strongly recommend you read Mr. Odie Henderson's not-so-favorable review on RogerEbert.com to get his take.