Doubt

January 3, 2009

Skilled acting distinguishes this sterile theatrical adaptation from mediocrity. Tony winner John Patrick Shanley brings a flat cinematic eye to his famed play, about the struggles of two nuns, mother superior Meryl Streep and impossibly innocent teacher Amy Adams, in proving their worst fears, that the kind parish priest, Philip Seymour Hoffman, has abused a young alter boy. That the boy is the school's only African-American, in an early '60's New York suburb made up almost entirely of Irish and Italian catholics, is constantly picked on, and shows homosexual tendencies, only makes the suspicions more logical, and dire, but the premise of Shanley's examination is that we don't know if any of it is true, neither do the nuns, and what looks suspicious might just be misconstrued as kind affection. Adams holds her own against the dynamic heavyweight duo of Streep and Hoffman, as does Viola Davis, in one tremendous scene as the boy's less-than-worried working class mother, but Shanley is a better writer than he is a cinematic director, and scenes of mass, dinner ritual, confrontation, and exploration are only made exciting because of the strength of the acting on display, not Shanley's rigorously boring mise-en-scene, made legible only with the suggestions of top lensman Roger Deakins, who keeps the camera where it should be, on the actors and their unquestioned gifts.

By Adam Suraf

asuraf@hotmail.com