Never ceases to amaze me how quick festival buzz spreads and then shifts. The first folks who saw Roman J. Israel, Esq. reported back that it was a fiasco. But when I caught up to it, I didn't find a fiasco at all. In fact, I think it contains one of Denzel Washington's gutsier recent performances. He plays an idealistic, deeply odd Los Angeles lawyer who goes through a moral crisis. I wish it worked better, but Roman is a noble failure. My review is up at Screen International.
