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4/28/2016

Doubt (2008) - Shanley's masterful religious drama



+ Best Drama of the Year + Best Religious Movie of the Year


The somber, elegant poster for John Patrick Shanley's Doubt



We are at a Catholic school in New York in the 1960s, where a sermon given by Father Flynn leads the nun principle to suspect him of disturbing irregularities that soon find corroboration from a younger nun. - But what is really the truth?

Doubt is an adaptation of master New-Yorker filmmaker John Patrick Shanley's (Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)) 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play Doubt: A Parable, which he has rewritten for the screen and directed himself.
Not for a second did I feel that the film is a theater adaptation. Shanley, production designer David Gropman (Burnt (2015)) and the again masterly yet simple photography by Roger Deakins (Sicario (2015)) along with an almost imperceptible score by Howard Shore (The Yards (2000)) lead us through Doubt in the most cinematic way possible. And yet, it is an actors' film if any is, with Oscar-nominated Meryl Streep (A Cry in the Dark (1988)), Oscar-nominated Philip Seymour Hoffman (Moneyball (2011)), Oscar-nominated Amy Adams (Pumpkin (2002)) and Oscar-nominated Viola Davis (Trust (2010)) all giving formidable performances, not to mention the many boy actors in it.
The story manages to juggle the double-sided risks of acting in a possible molestation case; the risk to wrongfully destroy a man's life - against the risk of neglecting to shield an adolescent. In a case with no 'smoking gun' such as this, Streep's character accepts to pass judgment based on signs that she interprets, heightening the film's title theme. But Doubt juggles many great themes SPOILER and end up breaking one's heart. It is full of secrets and truths at the same time and is, in short, a masterpiece.

Related posts:

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess




Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 50.9 mil. $
= Minor hit
[Doubt premiered October 30 (AFI Fest) and runs 103 minutes. The film was shot on location in the Bronx and Greenwich Village from December 2007 onward. It opened wide (in just 1,267 theaters) #10 to a 5.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 33.4 mil. $ (65.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 3.5 mil. $ (6.9 %) and Italy with 2.3 mil. $ (4.5 %). Of its 5 Oscar nominations the film won none, one of the major snubs of the year: Streep lost Best Actress to Kate Winslet for the great The Reader. Hoffman lost Best Supporting Actor to Heath Ledger, who won posthumously for the great The Dark Knight. Adams and Davis lost Best Supporting Actress to Penélope Cruz for the great Vicky Christina Barcelona. And Shanley lost Best Adapted Screenplay to Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire. Doubt was nominated for the 5 same things at the Golden Globes, where it also went home empty-handed there. Doubt is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Doubt?

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