Voted best actor at this year's Tony awards for his portrayal of Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, Frank Langella looks certain to collect his first Oscar nomination at the age of 70 for Andrew Wagner's compelling drama, Starting Out in the Evening.

Langella gives a subtle, touching and quietly powerful portrayal of an obscure novelist attempting to finish a new book when a bright young graduate student (Lauren Ambrose from Six Feet Under) interviews him for her thesis on his work. The superb ensemble cast also includes Lili Taylor, Anitha Gandhi and Adrian Lester.

This fine film, which had audiences queuing around the block when I saw it in New York last week, has yet to be acquired for distribution in the UK and Ireland, but the awards season buzz should ensure that it is picked up for release in the spring.