Spotlight

Note: Originally written in November 2015

At the risk of sounding like an analogy-cliche artist, I have to admit that there's a great analogy to the way this movie has been made with the people it portrays. Diligence. As shown by the Spotlight team from the Boston Globe in uncovering a pedophilia scandal involving the Catholic Church in the early noughties. The same singular diligence can be seen and felt in the way several elements come together in making this movie. The writing doesn't just satisfy itself with telling the story but goes one level deeper in telling us how the people in the story exactly prevailed. The direction ensures this poignantly by not just handling the plot but the minute antics of these people. Like how a reporter would slide across the room in hurry to answer the telephone. Such are the benefits of a movie written and directed by the same person, in this case, Thomas McCarthy. The cinematography is focused while Howard Shore's original score is equal parts soothing and haunting. But what's more sublime about this film is the acting, delivered with much aplomb by almost every cast member. So much so that taking specific names would be being unjust to the others. "Spotlight" is the rare gem of this year's movie lineup.

Read more on the film at IMDB and Letterboxd.