The Oscar awards is just around the corner so let me do some reviews which I haven’t done for quite a while now. Let me start with the film of my perennial favorite Meryl Streep – Doubt.
If you’re looking for some slam-bang action on-screen, don’t watch Doubt. The charac
ters don’t do any physical exertions other than talk, eat and walk. Or if you’re planning to get entertained, I don’t recommend it either. You’ll easily get bored.
Coz this film is designed not to entertain you. It wouldn’t get your heart racing or your adrenalin pumping. Rather, it would engage you in an intense play of suspicion, accusation, denial, guilt and sin using the church and the clergy as its backdrop.
The film, set in the 1964 Bronx, briefly and subtly tackles a rather delicate subject – the ‘relationship’ of a priest (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) with his black altar boy. However, the larger part of the story revolves around the Principal of the Catholic School (Meryl Streep), an ultra-conservative nun who actively pursued her ‘doubt’ trying to prove the priest’s impropriety.
The story is very simple. There are no twists or sub-plots. That’s why I think the Director (John Patrick Shanley) did a good job of stretching it out to it’s 1 hour 40 minute running time without boring me one single second.
But the main thing in this film is its players. 2005 Oscar Best Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman battling it out on intense scenes with 2-time Oscar Best Actress Meryl Streep! Boy, I’m telling you it doesn’t get any better than this.
Though I wouldn’t dare forget to mention that genuinely authentic performance by Amy Adams as the faint-hearted, gullible history teacher. Her subdued character balances the ever-commanding screen presence of Meryl.
I also salute Viola Davis as the mother of the altar boy. Viola, an award-winning stage actress, was on screen for a mere ten minutes but she didn’t let Meryl swallow her. She held her own, delivered he
r lines with the most perfect timing and tone. And cried shamelessly with generous tears and a runny nose to match. That’s realism.
So the film is not up for Best Picture in the Oscars. Neither it is for Best Director. But all four actors are nominated. Philip as Best Supporting Actor, both Amy and Viola battling it out for Best Supporting Actress and of course, Meryl in her 15th Best Actress nomination, a record nobody can touch anytime soon. Which means, if only for the performances, this film is really worth watching.
And oh, by the way, since I’m a self-confessed Meryl fan, I’d bet she’d win her third statuette this year.
If you’re looking for some slam-bang action on-screen, don’t watch Doubt. The charac
ters don’t do any physical exertions other than talk, eat and walk. Or if you’re planning to get entertained, I don’t recommend it either. You’ll easily get bored.Coz this film is designed not to entertain you. It wouldn’t get your heart racing or your adrenalin pumping. Rather, it would engage you in an intense play of suspicion, accusation, denial, guilt and sin using the church and the clergy as its backdrop.
The film, set in the 1964 Bronx, briefly and subtly tackles a rather delicate subject – the ‘relationship’ of a priest (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) with his black altar boy. However, the larger part of the story revolves around the Principal of the Catholic School (Meryl Streep), an ultra-conservative nun who actively pursued her ‘doubt’ trying to prove the priest’s impropriety.
The story is very simple. There are no twists or sub-plots. That’s why I think the Director (John Patrick Shanley) did a good job of stretching it out to it’s 1 hour 40 minute running time without boring me one single second.
But the main thing in this film is its players. 2005 Oscar Best Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman battling it out on intense scenes with 2-time Oscar Best Actress Meryl Streep! Boy, I’m telling you it doesn’t get any better than this.
Though I wouldn’t dare forget to mention that genuinely authentic performance by Amy Adams as the faint-hearted, gullible history teacher. Her subdued character balances the ever-commanding screen presence of Meryl.
I also salute Viola Davis as the mother of the altar boy. Viola, an award-winning stage actress, was on screen for a mere ten minutes but she didn’t let Meryl swallow her. She held her own, delivered he
r lines with the most perfect timing and tone. And cried shamelessly with generous tears and a runny nose to match. That’s realism.So the film is not up for Best Picture in the Oscars. Neither it is for Best Director. But all four actors are nominated. Philip as Best Supporting Actor, both Amy and Viola battling it out for Best Supporting Actress and of course, Meryl in her 15th Best Actress nomination, a record nobody can touch anytime soon. Which means, if only for the performances, this film is really worth watching.
And oh, by the way, since I’m a self-confessed Meryl fan, I’d bet she’d win her third statuette this year.
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