Denzel Washington's no stranger to the Oscars, but the early word for his latest film has firmly in the running for Best Actor - and going by this trailer, it's easy to see why.

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy - who wrote and directed 2015's Nightcrawler - Roman J. Israel, Esq. follows Washington as a dysfunctional but brilliant lawyer who finds out that the law firm he's been working for for many years is about to implode, and forces him to rethink his deeply-held political beliefs in order to survive.

The trailer does go through quite a bit of the story, but it's really more about Washington's performance than anything else.

Roman J. Israel Esq. hits Irish cinemas on December 1st.