A compelling film starring two of Hollywood’s finest, Merryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt is based on an award-winning play of the same name and analyses how the Catholic Church deals with the problem of paedophilia and priests. Much more than simply condemning the act, this movie delves further, examining how the hierarchy of the church often protects its perpetrators, and how those with the best interests of the child at heart are often virtually powerless. The weighty topics are then complicated with complex characters and surprising twists, making this a rare movie where the issues and consequences linger with you long afterwards.

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What would you do you if your estranged and incontinent father, suffering from dementia, was suddenly launched back into your life? The Savage children, superbly played by Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, decide on a nursing home, and this gritty reality is superbly handled. It begins in Arizona, the repetitious and mundane nature of existence nicely shot, giving a vivid picture of people waiting to die and the young who tolerate them for a pay check. Also wonderfully depicted is the discomfort of bystanders when faced with an elderly person unable to look after their own basic human functions. The nursing home is shown with surprisingly balance, so while we are presented with a stark, depressing environment, it is not without positives and it seems an appropriate place for people close to the end of their lives. The film falls a little flat as we wait for their father to die, but then the resolutions reached by the son and daughter at the end are brilliantly honest. A fable for modern times.