MOVIE: Doubt

It's the day after Christmas. I had originally thought that I would be spending it in Orlando but had decided last night to head back to Melbourne.

Turns out that I was woken up by a familiar sound -- that of a Jack Russell barking; it was 6:45am. I couldn't get back to bed, so I just spent the next hour playing Scrabble Sprint game on the Merriam-Webster website (got a high of 528). It was looking to be another one of those days.

Anyways, the plan for the day was to catch up on some movies, and the first one was Doubt, John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his Tony-Award and Pulitzer-Prize winning play of the same name.

Plot Summary from imdb.com:

"Set in 1964, Doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him abusing a black student. He denies the charges, and much of the play's quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority"

The only remnants of it being a play would be how localized all the action seemed to be and perhaps the movie's unfortunate last line of dialogue (unintentionally cheesy). Asides, the filmmakers did a really good job with the adaptation.

I could definitely see how it's getting acting accolades. All four main players -- Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis -- gave strong strong performances, and I am hoping that each of them gets an Oscar nomination. The source material was chock-full of strong scenes, so I'm expecting it to also pick up another nod for adapted screenplay. As for picture and director, I believe that it'll depend on how some Christmas-Day-release films are received.

Anyways, I enjoyed the movie -- though (or maybe because) it creeps me out that I know someone with the same visual, voice, and conviction as Meryl Streep's character. It definitely will give people something to talk about and some items to self-reflect on.



Clip from the film (caution: may be spoiler-ish):