We had one film release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Locke

Screenwriter Steven Knight, who received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for Dirty Pretty Things and whose Eastern Promises screenplay helped lead to an Oscar nomination for Viggo Mortensen has made his second feature as a director and it’s possible he could have another film with an Oscar nomination.

A successful construction manager is driving home one evening when a phone call threatens to upend his carefully crafted existence. Tom Hardy stars as the Ivan Locke, a man risking everything to keep a secret. Hardy has received some of the strongest notices of his career and after his near-miss for 2011’s Warrior along with well received performances in The Dark Knight Rises and especially Bronson, the Academy could finally take notice.

The problem here is that Locke, although well received by critics, is releasing in April, a dangerous timeframe to retain attention ahead of the Oscars. Few small budget indies have survived long gestations to earn Oscar nominations. If critics remember it at year’s end, Hardy could be catapulted back into the conversation, but I suspect the attention will fade as the months drift by.