Indignation

In 1951 Marcus, the son of a Newark butcher, enrols at a college in Ohio to stay out of the Korean war. He is clever, honest and extremely stubborn, and he does not know how to handle the compulsory chapel rule, his roommates, or Olivia, who approaches him. James Schamus adapted Philip Roth's novel and put one long scene at the centre: the argument between Marcus and the dean, running close to twenty minutes and carrying the whole subject of the film. Logan Lerman plays him without softening the rigidity, with Sarah Gadon as Olivia. In the end it shows how small acts of youthful obstinacy attach to fatal consequences. Who it is for: viewers who like literary adaptation and period drama built on dialogue. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace, since this is almost entirely conversation.