Patrick Shanley, 15 (2008)

Once again it becomes apparent that they gave the statuettes to the wrong people at this year’s Oscars. Meryl Streep should have been a shoo-in for her role as a Bronx nun who believes the school priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is up to no good with a choirboy. Hoffman goes toe-to-toe with Streep in a series of restrained verbal showdowns. It has been said before, that it’s all in the eyes: Streep’s are still, solemn, Hoffman’s dart and jitter. Shanley, adapting his Pulitzer-winning play, has mounted a sturdy, riveting entertainment — Dead Poet’s Society as if directed by Sidney Lumet. For as long as Hollywood is making films of this calibre, all is well in the world.

DVD Extras

In his nostalgic commentary, director Shanley talks about shooting on the streets in New York where he grew up, which, he claims, have barely changed; there are interviews with the nuns who taught Shanley as a child — he hired them as “technical advisers” on the film

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