Entertaining
Summary
While it didn’t need 129 minutes to tell its story, The Secret in Their Eyes is buoyed by a compelling story and a cast of entertaining characters.
Plot: An Argentinian judiciary officer (Ricardo Darín) and his alcoholic colleague (Guillermo Francella) investigate the rape and murder of a beautiful schoolteacher.
Review: I did not know that this movie won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. The only time I encountered it was the North American remake, which I did not watch. My friend urged me to pick it up, and we were shopping for Blu-rays one day. I shrugged and thought, “What the hell? It was a 2 for 30 sale.” Now, I’ve finally sat down and watched the flick.
The story is engrossing. It does meander into romance, which causes its runtime to elongate (more on that later), but generally, it’s a well-told yarn. The romance parts could have become grating after a while, but this is about love in its many forms – obsession, romantic, platonic, dutiful, it’s all covered. The mystery itself is not much of one; it’s obvious fairly quickly who the guilty party is. However, the story unfolds in a way that, told between two separate eras, is never predictable or tedious.
The pacing is good, but I sometimes wondered why we needed 129 minutes to tell this story. There is a surprising amount of humour in the film (and it almost always lands), but it makes me wonder if it was all necessary. Keep in mind that there’s also political overtones that, to someone from Argentina, would land, but to someone ignorant of that past (hand raised), it wouldn’t resonate. I understood what the movie was saying in that regard, especially in aspects that mirror today’s society (meaning that we don’t seem to be getting any better), but again, I feel like the movie was at times trying to tell too many stories at once. It juggles it well, and like I said, it doesn’t drag, but at 129 minutes, I know that the central part of the story, the murder investigation, doesn’t need that amount of time.
There is a terrific scene in the middle of the story where the two investigators are looking for a suspect at a soccer game. The camerawork moves to a five-minute tracking shot that moves through the stadium, the crowd, and into the stadium’s depths before ending on the pitch. It was one of the most engaging and exciting pursuit sequences I’ve seen in any movie, and it’s all thanks to that camerawork. The soundtrack didn’t grab me, so I guess it was your standard fare, but man, that one sequence made the movie truly memorable.
The characters are the strong point of the film. They’re affable and entertaining. Excellent were Darin and Francella as the two investigators – you believe they’re truly friends, and Francella’s sacrifice later in the movie feels genuine, not contrived. Soledad Villamil is believable as the object of Darin’s unrequited love, and the tension between them both crackles with unspoken feelings. Javier Godino is creepy and unsettling as the rapist/murderer who appears innocent but is anything but. There isn’t a single bad character in this movie. Favourite scene? Probably where the Judge finds out about Darin and Francella’s shenanigans and sarcastically gives them a dressing down in front of Villamil. Honestly, the humour is good, the drama is great, and there isn’t a single note out of place in this movie.
I recommend checking out The Secret in Their Eyes if you have a chance. While it isn’t a mystery on par with, say, Agatha Christie, it’s engaging and entertaining. With a shorter runtime, this would have been a five out of five for me, but it was still a terrific watch and well worth the time spent.