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How entertaining? ★★★★★
Thought provoking? ★★★☆☆ 10 August 2010
This a movie review of THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES. |
“Choose carefully. Memories are all we end up with. At least pick the nice ones,” Ricardo Morales (Pablo Rago)
Is not often that this can be said… we have been spoilt. Police fiction on television has been of the highest calibre imaginable. THE WIRE, DEXTER and THE SHIELD are Greek tragedy, Shakespearean epic and Freudian nightmare rolled into one. However, television’s bigger brother has not quite been delivering with that level of frequency. I can count on the digits of one hand the number of real quality police dramas over the last decade. You just hope, like with most trips to the cinema, for true excellence. I am seriously pleased to report that THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES rocks!
Is not often that this can be said… we have been spoilt. Police fiction on television has been of the highest calibre imaginable. THE WIRE, DEXTER and THE SHIELD are Greek tragedy, Shakespearean epic and Freudian nightmare rolled into one. However, television’s bigger brother has not quite been delivering with that level of frequency. I can count on the digits of one hand the number of real quality police dramas over the last decade. You just hope, like with most trips to the cinema, for true excellence. I am seriously pleased to report that THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES rocks!
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Currently screening at the British Film Institute in Waterloo, London, is a season dedicated to the Latin American search of modern quality, from CITY OF GOD to THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES can hold its head up with Argentinian duo NINE QUEENS and THE HEADLESS WOMAN. If you have a couple of hours on your hands, you could do a lot worse than by checking out some of what’s on hand. Also, currently at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, is Oliver Stone’s documentary, SOUTH OF THE BORDER, looking at the majority of Latin America’s current incumbents – proving uplifting for those who care about national self-determination.
This current coalescing of interest around London in this continent all provides context and a greater understanding for a story told over 25 years. THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES open is with the reopening. Junior prosecutor Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) has retired and is now attempting to write a novel, while his senior, Irene Menendez Hastings (Soledad Villamil), is now a judge. Both have been haunted by a case of a brutal murder. The film now jumps back and forward in time effortlessly, building into a romantic and thrilling ride. The make-up effects are subtle so the passage of time is evidenced without pulling you out of the film.
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Expectations are confounded. How often can you say that about a movie? Has the suspect been discovered? What? We've only just begun? Gripping. The banter between the characters is fantastic; dialogue this sharp seems to have been relegated to the 1930s era of Hollywood, so rarely resurfacing any more. It is also moodily shot and technically impressive. There is a camera movement so amazing you wonder how they did it. It’s a chase sequence that starts with a bird’s-eye view of a football match the tracks over the city to the stadium, then goes into the crowd and ends in the arena’s corridors. Wow!
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES is not just eye and ear candy; it has something to say - about gender, corruption, incompetence and class. If you enjoyed THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, book your ticket right now.
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