Spotlight is directed by Tom McCarthy and stars Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo and tells the true story of the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team and their investigation into a large child molestation scandal within the Catholic Church. Spotlight is considered by many to be this year's front runner for Best Picture at the Oscars, and with good reason. It's an authentic film which emotionally creeps up on you from scene to scene and one thoroughly enjoyable theatre going experience, even if the subject matter can be quite disturbing at times.
This year many quality films have been released, during which the real star of the film is the director. For example, despite Leo's excellent physical performance, the true star of The Revenant is director Innaritu, who imposes his style of long tracking takes and fluid camera motions to bring that story to life. The Hateful Eight was a movie where director Tarantino stole the show with his typical rapid-fire dialogue and balls-to-the-wall violence. Spotlight is quite the opposite of the aforementioned films.
Director Tom McCarthy's style of direction for this project is purposefully subdued so the dramatic beats of the plot and the emotional weight of the script come to centre stage. McCarthy intentionally holds back with this film and as a result, all the remaining components of filmmaking such as the narrative, the screenplay and the acting performances all take centre stage. It's not a character driven film as such, but what rises to the top in this tale is the imperative need for justice for the victims of the degenerate Catholic priests. I really appreciated how McCarthy helmed this project, and I was absorbed into this story from scene one.
This film has such an authentic overall feel to it and because this script does such a good job at immersing you in from very early on, at times it feels like you're watching real events unfold before you. It doesn't feel like actors performing in front of a camera, it feels like real people having real conversations. That is again testament to what is a phenomenally written screenplay and a collection of excellently subdued performances from an ensemble of truly talented actors.
Michael Keaton comes off of his excellent turn in Birdman, this time delivering a more meditative and calm performance as the leader of the Spotlight team. I think we all knew after Birdman that Keaton still had some proper acting chops, and Spotlight solidifies this claim showcasing he still possesses the entire spectrum of emotional range. Also, Rachel McAdams continues to choose good projects and does some very good work here in what has been a very successful couple of months for her. However, the one who takes the spotlight in Spotlight (pun intended) is Mark Ruffalo.
Fresh off of another Oscar nomination (and justifiably so) Ruffalo, like his co-stars, delivers a subdued and nuanced performance. However, there is one scene in particular which took me completely off guard because it felt uncomfortably real. Usually in a film like this where an actor is subdued throughout and then starts to scream and shout in one scene alone it sticks out like a sore thumb. But because you can feel the emotion radiating off of him, you do not get that with Ruffalo. He is terrific in this film. He may not beat Stallone to the statue, but if he continues the way he is he has one coming his way I'll tell you now.
With the exception of a few instances during which the script purposefully stops the narrative to directly explain things to the audience, Spotlight is such an immersive movie due to its well realised script that fleshes out its main characters and sets up emotional intrigue at every turn it can. But what I loved the most about Spotlight was its portrayal of the media in a positive light. It's very easy to criticise mass media for its rampant commercialism and questionable representation of migrants and other ethnic minorities in today's society (believe me, it's what I'm studying at university).
But Spotlight focuses on the journalists, the actual people behind the news. It does an excellent job at showcasing how difficult and time consuming yet how rewarding investigative journalism can be. It does a fine job at showcasing both the practical and ethical constraints under which these people operate, including the pressure to meet deadlines and how careful they have to be when interviewing victims. It shows how sudden tragedies like 9/11 can happen which ultimately put long-running stories like this on hold. As a student of the media, I was fascinated by all this movie had to say about modern media through a positive lens.
But you don't have to be a media student to fully appreciate this film. If you like an engaging and emotionally impactful story with fleshed out characters, well-written dialogue and thoughts which will provoke you long after you leave the movie theatre, then Spotlight is definitely a film to seek out. Some may find the pacing to be slow and others may find the source material difficult to digest due to religious reasons, but just judging it as a film Spotlight is pretty darn good. If it goes on to win Best Picture, you will hear no complaints from me:
Rating - A-
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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