Latest screening: Doubt

I have no doubt that Doubt will feature heavily come the awards nominations. While the film itself may be a long shot - it is another of this year's seemingly unending set of solid films with incredible performances - the four leads are uniformly excellent.

The film manages to avoid the trappings of its stage origins well, a particular surprise given that director John Patrick Shanley is both writer of the screenplay and of the original play, and hasn't directed a film since the painful Joe Versus the Volcano (the Hanks/Ryan collaboration most people conveniently forget!) This may largely be due to typically stunning cinematography by Roger Deakins (presumably the film that prevented his working with the Coens on Burn After Reading). It is an intimate film as necessitated by the play construct though and that is perhaps why the film does not resonate like the performances do.

Much will, and already has, been made of Meryl Streep's performance and rightly so but Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and, in a single but memorable split-scene Viola Davis, all bring their A-game and match her. There is a feeling in Hollywood right now that Streep will take best actress and it would be no bad thing were she to, but i suspect not. Streep, like Hoffman, is typically excellent here but there are other performances this year as good (see my first predictions later today) and this feels like a nomination not a win. Personally for my the performance that really resonated was Adams.

Awards chances: Expect to see Streep and Adams get nominations with possible spots for Hoffman (although with best actor so strongly contested this year i suspect not) and maybe Davis who, despite very limited screen time, makes an impression and supporting actresses worth nominating currently seem few and far between. The screenplay if also likely in the adapted category and Deakins may well find himself short-listed once again. The film is more in doubt, though it is not a strong year so it could do. Director i'd be very surprised.