Spotlight

An incredible surprise in how the film is shot with great acting performances. The actors don't unnecessarily draw attention to themselves but act in a way that highlights an incredibly strong theme, showing the corruption of society, primarily American, and its integration of faith into life. But this can be applied to other topics as well. If any film deserves an Oscar, it's Spotlight. (08/02/2016)

Cheap, economical and yet A-grade filmmaking, which is what Hollywood is all about. Spotlight isn't about emotions, it's about facts, hence the Oscars. A great thing and the biggest drawback for the viewer, as this two-hour procedural is a bit monotonous, tiresome and impersonal in places. On the other hand, the issues it covers and the testimonials it leaves are unprecedented, almost demonic, and a clear indication that the church is first class crap. (14/05/2016)

The best film of 2015 according to the Oscars, and yet I’m only seeing it now. I might have given that title to The Revenant instead, as it was a remarkable film in every aspect, but I understand why many critics praised Spotlight. The topic it addresses is indeed very important and should be discussed and made known to the public. I was surprised by how the film is approached almost like a documentary in many ways, as it really unfolds like a dramatic stage play. I thoroughly enjoyed the performances, with each actor significantly contributing to the brilliant final result (especially Michael Keaton). The film doesn’t offer intense moments or action scenes, but believe me, the raw dialogues of people describing their horrific experiences will send chills down your spine. Personally, I was never bored during its 109 minutes and the film provided one finely crafted dialogue after another. While I’m not giving it a perfect score, it certainly deserves a place among high-quality cinematic achievements. Undoubtedly. I give it 84%. (01/02/2019)

Procedural minimalist journalistic drama par excellence, which is about journalism and journalists as much as about the topic of that coverage. In a way, it's a movie coverage, how an honest investigative coverage is made, rather than a journalistic thriller that you might have expected based on what the coverage is about and what it reveals. With few exceptions proving the rule, no room for background or personal issues. Only a few months of obtaining source after source, confirming the credibility of sources, documents, statistics, statements, spending endless hours in the archives, and gradually completing the puzzle piece by piece until a complete disturbing picture emerges. Whoever likes this way of brief portraying things where the events are observed from distance, will clearly enjoy it. It called for being captured and build purely on that case, to focus more on the emotions or the priests, the Church and the victims, and the genre rules of the journalistic thriller could be respected, but there are other movies to do this job. And it is precisely this seeming impartiality and civility that makes it even more impressive and, as a result, more disturbing, as only the simple facts can do, and how it could have never been achieved by too emotional movie. (05/01/2016)

Spotlight is exactly the movie I expected it to be. The well-written script doesn’t let the viewer get lost despite the abundance of names and characters, and it achieves escalation by precisely dispensing information. The actors perform with gusto as though this was the most important theatre play of their career. It’s thus all the more regrettable that their characters play only the roles of peculiar investigative journalists, but none of them has a more direct connection to the investigated subject. But that would make the movie into a contrived thriller, and that’s not what Spotlight is about. Rather, it stays true to the real events and is thus an honest and courageous tribute to real journalist heroes, and most importantly, it addresses a very serious matter. That it does not change anything politically and barely anyone will remember it after a few years is a different story. (15/04/2016)