Spotlight

A lot of "important" movies move at a measured pace, as in the sort of slow, subtle, and deliberate pace that often comes across as ponderous and perhaps even boring. There's a lot of danger of that with this movie. However, as the film unfolds, it becomes clear that the movie's measured pace--its careful unfolding of its plot and narrative components--is actually good storytelling, in that it helps the impact of the story's revelations hit the viewers in the audience with the magnitude of the subject matter with the same ever-expanding and developing horror that the characters in the story experience themselves. The ultimate impact is an emotional gut-punch that only the most stoic viewer can shrug off without feeling a sense of tragedy, anger, and grief. I don't know if this film truly merited a Best Picture award--the presentation is professional but never achieves transcendent art--but it merits a lot of respect and admiration, and it certainly deserves your time and attention.