I’m assuming that Nicholas Hytner‘s film version of Alan Bennett‘s The History Boys (Fox Searchlight, 11.24), which has the spiritual and thematic ingredients required for Best Picture consideration in spades, will play the Toronto Film Festival.
I still think there’s a speed bump waiting to happen in the subplot about the older teacher fondling some of his students, but the stage version, which won won a passel of Tony awards (including one for Best Play), is so rich and resounding, and it says so many right things in such a commanding way, that it’s hard to imagine the film not being received with great end-of-the-year, award-level acclaim. Unless, of course, Hytner somehow cocks it up.
