This year's (surprising) Oscar winner for Foreign Language Film was El Secreto de sus Ojos (The Secret in their Eyes) from Argentina.MadProfessah and the Other Half saw this film on May 21st (my birthday), at one of my favorite art-house movie theaters, the Laemmle Playhouse 7 on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.
I like seeing foreign-language films, especially in Spanish, which I have been trying to learn, slowly, for years.
I also like mysteries, and although I knew very little about El Secreto de Sus Ojos walking in, I was aware there was some aspect of mystery and political intrigue involved.
I didn't even know it was very well-reviewed, with an average of 91% at rottentomatoes.com (97% among users) before I saw it myself and checked on the reviews after I saw the film myself.
The film is told from the perspective of Benjamin, a combination detective/prosecuting attorney in Buenos Aires who, in his retirement, is writing a book about a particular case of a murdered newlywed housewife that took place 25 years ago but was never solved.
Benjamin works closely with his boss, Irene, who he also happened to have a huge crush on but who everyone believed was "out of his league" due to her foreign education and family's upper class status.
Benjamin also works closely with his (clearly alcoholic) owlish colleague Pablo to try to solve the mystery of the murdered housewife, and their interactions are a source of some of the most poignant humor (and, later, horror) in the film. Another gripping character in the film is the husband of the murdered woman, in whose eyes Benjamin sees a love like no other, a passion which fuels his decades-long obsession with this case, despite a politically complicated resolution of the matter.
The Secret in their Eyes is a movie that you will remember long after you leave the movie theater, filled with tiny revelatory moments that sear the memory and haunt the viewer.
The Secret in their Eyes is a movie that you will remember long after you leave the movie theater, filled with tiny revelatory moments that sear the memory and haunt the viewer.
Running Time: 2 hours, 7 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated R
Director: Juan José Campanella.
OVERALL GRADE: A+/A.
ACTING: A+.
IMAGERY: A.
PLOT: A+.
IMPACT: A.
MPAA Rating: Rated R
Director: Juan José Campanella.
OVERALL GRADE: A+/A.
ACTING: A+.
IMAGERY: A.
PLOT: A+.
IMPACT: A.
"The Secret in their Eyes is a movie that you will remember long after you leave the movie theater, filled with tiny revelatory moments that sear the memory and haunt the viewer". Youre so right. I have two reactions: one moments almost make me cry and the other surprise me so much that I merely lose my jaws. I cant tell them here because they are huge spoilers--theyre near the end--
ReplyDeleteWith English sub-titles and with less than full concern for background contrast against the words, the words were at times very difficult nay impossible to read...It left me with a headache and few plot voids...It's as if the sub-titles were handled by the incoming freshmen...
ReplyDeleteIt is very common here all the gang you complain. I think one of the greatest things in the movie are the dialogues, with or without oath, it is very localized and it may be the only flaw of the film.
ReplyDelete