Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius and Philip
Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn in John Patrick Shanley's film "Doubt", which
opened in three cities in the U.S. today. Below is Viola Davis as Mrs.
Miller, in a role that has Oscar written all over it for next year.
(Photos: Miramax Films)
THE POPCORN REEL FILM REVIEW/"Doubt"
I Spy With My
Jaundiced Little Eye, Something Beginning With Guilt
By
Omar P.L. Moore/December
12, 2008
John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt", based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2001 play of
the same name, works as a film because of its searing performances, not because
the film is particularly outstanding. Mr. Shanley adds a few visual
cliches to the impending storm that will engulf four people in 1964 New York
City. St. Nicholas School is a Catholic institution whose ebullient and
upbeat priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is suspected by the
supercilious Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) of behaving in an illicit manner
with a young black student at St. Nicholas. The buffer between these two
strong minded individuals is Sister James (Amy Adams), a young, naive and
idealistic servant of the most high. She is torn between the new and old
pillars of the establishment.
Ironically, of everyone involved, Mrs. Miller (Viola Davis), the mother of the
boy, has a clear, resolute yet complex picture of guilt and innocence and her
son's place in 1960's America, let alone St. Nicholas's. Mrs. Miller is
indeed history's collective conscience of a turbulent era and in one phenomenal
scene she crystallizes the entire film in a moment that should cement a best
supporting actress Oscar for Ms. Davis in February. All actors wish for a
one-in-a-lifetime moment, and Ms. Davis has one of these moments in "Doubt".
In all of 2008, there's simply no performance more natural and real than hers.
With Ms. Miller Viola Davis leaves a lasting impression amidst Oscar winners Streep and Hoffman
and a third Oscar nominee Amy Adams, who has fast become a versatile and
enormously
talented actress.
In crafting the film version of his own play Mr. Shanley has apparently shaken
off some of the earmarks of the Broadway stage that his play presided upon,
although his direction is not too far from a stage-like feel -- it is
essentially a series of episodes wrapped in and around prescient sermons,
including the one by Father Flynn that starts the film.
In the end it matters not whether Flynn is guilty of what Sister Aloysius
accuses him of -- did he or didn't he?, that is not the question -- but it does
matter that the doubt that lingers throughout the film and its characters is
seen as not solely a doubting of Father Flynn's account of what transpired.
This larger perspective gives "Doubt" its moral and ethical dilemmas but these
thorny crossroads wouldn't be possible in what is a thought-provoking but
otherwise unspectacular film -- without the excellent acting from all involved.
"Doubt" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for
thematic material. The film's duration is one hour and 44 minutes.
"Doubt" opened today in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Next
Friday it expands to other U.S. cities and by year's end will open across the
U.S. and Canada.
Related: Viola Davis's
stirring performance
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2008. All Rights
Reserved.
Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller in "Doubt".
Her performance is Oscar worthy.