Doubt

In a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, the principal suspects a priest of an improper relationship with one of the boys. She has no evidence, only certainty. John Patrick Shanley adapted his own Pulitzer and Tony winning play and directed it himself. The film holds its ambiguity to the last frame: the audience never learns whether the priest is guilty, and the film refuses to take a side. Given the subject that is a risky decision, and it is both the film's strength and its weakness. Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis were all nominated for Oscars. Davis is in one scene. Her conversation with Streep as the boy's mother is, for a lot of critics, the most devastating stretch of the picture. The film became only the fourth to take four acting nominations without a Best Picture nomination. It grossed 51.7 million dollars against a 20 million budget. Who it is for: people who like chamber drama built on performance and dialogue. Who it is not for: anyone who wants a verdict. The title is a warning.