The Secret In Their Eyes

A tremendously entertaining and tautly delivered crossover arthouse flick

Tara Brady, 13 Aug 2010

Juan José Campanella’s Oscar winning crime drama opens with retired federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito (Darín) composing some overly purple prose for the Novel He Has Always Wanted To Write. The film starts as it means to go on; The Secret In Their Eyes may be thoroughly engaging for its opening 90 minutes but nobody could claim it’s subtle.

Told largely in flashback, this enjoyable Argentine thriller concerns a cold case that has continued to haunt our hero into his golden years; in 1974, the younger Benjamin headed up an investigation into the brutal rape and murder of Liliana, a young, recently married schoolteacher. The protagonist and his team soon finger the likely culprit but Peronist Party corruption and Argentina’s Dirty War prevent a prosecution thus leaving Liliana’s widowed bank clerk husband (Rago) in perpetual mourning.

For most of the film’s running time, The Secret In Their Eyes is tremendously entertaining and tautly delivered. Sadly, for every splendid set piece – a chase scene through the home ground of Buenos Aires’ Racing Club F.C. is a particular highlight – there are at least two instances of clumsy movie grammar. A gloopy romance used to bookend the enterprise is wholly unconvincing. And the aura of bad daytime soap sits badly within Mr. Campanella’s commendably sweary, macho universe.

Only the Academy could have favoured such unevenness over Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, which lost out to The Secret In Their Eyes in this year’s Foreign Language category. Still, as crossover arthouse hits go, this Argentinean offering sure beats the hell out of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Tara Brady

Latest Articles by Tara Brady

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Drug dealer turned raconteur HOWARD MARKS talks about the forthcoming movie adaptation of his memoirs and reflects on Ireland’s controversial clampdown on headshops

2010-11-01

Take Noe For An Answer

Sex, drugs, extreme violence - no, it’s not the latest from the Fianna Fail think-in, it’s the new film from controversial French director Gaspar Noe. He talks to Tara Brady about being the most divisive filmmaker of his generation

2010-11-01

Green Day

How did a young girl from the Yorkshire depths end up starring in two back-to-back Irish movies? JODIE WHITTAKER talks about channelling her inner Celt for Swansong: The Occi Byrne Story

2010-10-12

The Wright Stuff

Having scored substantial cult hits with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, Tarantino-endorsed English director Edgar Wright relocated Stateside to make his new movie, the eagerly awaited comic book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

2010-09-09

Brand of Hope & Glory

Debauched comedian Russell Brand has decided to conquer Hollywood, via his latest movie Get Him To The Greek. He explains why playing himself on screen is more challenging than you might imagine, talks about finding true lurve with Katy Perry and discovering the joys of living clean...

2010-07-01

Glam Overboard

When glam popsters Slade released a movie in 1974, they were widely assumed to have made a Hard Days Night-style lark. In fact Slade In Flame was an acid-bath satire of the music industry. Singer Noddy Holder looks back at the controversy.

2010-08-18

Girl Talk

A documentary about the life experiences of ordinary Irish women? It seems a proasic way to burst onto the movie scene. But for KEN WARDROP His & Hers is the culmination of a lifetime’s work.

2010-06-30

Winterbottom Of Discontent

Cult English indie director Michael Winterbottom caused a storm at Sundance with his latest movie, an uncompromisingly violent adaptation of Jim Thompson’s noir classic The Killer Inside Me. But the filmmaker remains nonplussed by the reaction. “Certain scenes should be shocking,” he says.

2010-06-15

The War Zone

Set almost entirely in a tank, Samuel Moaz’ powerful new film, Lebanon, takes an uncompromising look at Israeli military operations in Beirut. words Tara Brady

2010-05-12

Creed Is Good

Rising starlet Gemma Arterton has added another gem to her increasingly glittering CV with the controversial new thriller The Disappearance Of Alice Creed. She talks to Tara Brady about nudity, violence and her sex symbol status.

2010-04-28

With Teeth

Tara Brady talks to Greek director Yorgos LANTHIM about his shocking and riveting new film Dogtooth, which caused quite a stir at Cannes.

2010-04-27

Spirit Chaser

He was one of Britain’s most famous journalists. Then he became a successful thriller writer. Now Robert Harris’s most political novel yet has inspired a film, in which the central protagonist bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain ex-British prime minister with a messianic gleam in his eye.

2010-04-15

Waltzing With Tilda

Longtime arthouse darling and aristo scion Tilda Swinton turns out to be an old democratic socialist at heart, abeit one who laments the passing of cinematic melodrama.

2010-04-14

Bounty Champions

The alpha and omega of Irish leading men, Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleeson, talk about their latest film Perrier's Bounty, an Irish gangster flick with shades of Guy Richie.

2010-04-06

Modern Love

The debut film from Australian director Warwick Thornton, Samson and Delilah – a road movie about two homeless teens trekking across the Northern Territory – has won many plaudits internationally, including the Camera D’or at Cannes and Best Film at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. The filmmaker describes it as “Romeo and Juliet but set in an Aboriginal community.”

2010-03-31

He Believes in Beauty

Neil Jordan's Latest Movie Ondine is a Superb Addition to the Oeuvre of Ireland's Finest Film-Maker, Who Professes His Love For Ireland's Innate 'Craggy Madness'.

2010-03-22

Long Live The Kingsley

The mighty Ben Kingsley lends his incomparable talents to Martin Scorsese’s latest opus.

2010-03-19

The Carney Code

Brothers John And Kieran Carney discuss Zonad, their fantastical - if unexpected - follow-up to the Oscar-winning Once.

2010-03-15

Like a Soldier getting over the War.

A fitter, happier Colin Farrell has left his wild years behind, come through rehab and recovery — and he’s still smiling after it all. Tara Brady catches up with Ireland’s one and only natural born movie star.

2010-03-09

Into the Wild

Several years in the making, the eagerly anticipated Where The Wild Things Are - an adaptation of the bestselling children’s book by Maurice Sendak - has finally arrived. Tara Brady has a rare audience with the film’s director, hipster guru Spike Jonze.

2010-03-04

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Anne

Honorary Irish actress Anne-Marie Duff talks to Tara Brady about her new movie, Imagine This, which takes a fascinating look at the formative years of one of the most iconic musicians of all time, John Lennon.

2010-03-04

Scavenging Angel

Micmacs, the latest movie from French arthouse director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is about an underground group of human scavengers. Like the director’s previous masterworks, Delicatessen and Amelie, the film showcases his celebrated visual style.

2010-03-02

Give ‘em enough Lycanthrope

Tara Brady talks to Benicio Del Toro about his new movie The Wolfman, which aims to recapture the full bloodcurdling glory of classic Universal Horror films.

2010-02-24

MAD ABOUT THE BOYS

Clive Owen has enjoyed unexpected A-List status thanks to his performances in the likes of Children Of Men, Closer and Inside Man. But as he tells Tara Brady ahead of the release of his new movie The Boys Are Back, for him it’s still all about the script.

2010-01-20

Vera Farmiga, Up In The Air.

Vera Farmiga has become the actress of choice for mother and wife roles in Hollywood. She turns in another superb performance opposite George Clooney in her new film, Up In The Air. It’s the night after the London premiere of Up In The Air and Vera Farmiga, a woman who looks heartstoppingly beautiful even when playing a heroin addict, is still top to toe in movie star garb, all cascading blonde curls and killer heels. Like, wow.

2010-01-18

The Road To God Knows Where

The dream team of Cormac McCarthy, Nick Cave and director John Hillcoat have re-united for a screen adaptation of McCarthy’s novel The Road.

2009-12-11

Autobiographical for the People

Their movies are often zany and absurd – even in their darkest moments. But now JOEL and ETHAN COEN have made their most personal film yet, a suburban drama that draws on their own childhoods in the American midwest. Good luck getting them to talk about it though.

2009-11-26

The Fangs All Here

Twilight star PETER FACINELLI talks about life inside the hottest vampire franchise in cinema

2009-11-24

Lee Shall Overcome

Having bagged an Oscar for the angst-ridden Brokeback Mountain, director ANG LEE lightens the tone with his new movie, a paean to the Woodstock festival. He explains why he chose to honour the high-point of hippy culture

2009-11-12

East is best

Some of the best movies currently being made are coming from the near east, specifically Turkey and Romania. CRISTIAN MUNGIU, director of the astonishing, Ceausescu-era set 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days and the forthcoming Tales from the Golden Age talks about the new wave of Romanian cinema.

2009-10-29

21st Century Fox

Tara Brady talks to uber-hip actor - and scion of the Coppola clan - Jason Schwartzman about his latest film with cult director Wes Anderson, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

2009-10-28

There's a doctor in the house

Tara Brady talks to director Pete Docter about the latest Pixar mega-hit Up, which tells the story of an elderly widower who sets sail on an Amazonian adventure.

2009-10-20

The Big Pink

The sex lives of flamingos may seem an unusual premise for a Disney nature film but documentarians MATTHEW AEBERHAND and LENDER WARD weave cinematic magic from this most unlikely of source materials.

2009-09-25

A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT YOU CLANCY

LIAM CLANCY is in sparkling form as he looks forward to the release of a documentary on his life, which explains how he escaped the Irish Ayatollahs and wowed a young Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village.

2009-09-23

THIS CHARMING MAN

He’s swapped the American Office for Hollywood, been touched by the hand of George Clooney and scrawled his name all over a house in Kerry. Tara Brady meets awesomely nice Away We Go star John Burke Krasinski.

2009-09-23

hotpress.com

Blogs on hotpress.com

Additional Sites on hotpress.com

Join Us

Hot Press,
13 Trinity Street,
Dublin 2.
Rep. Of Ireland
Tel: +353 (1) 241 1500

Email:info@hotpress.ie

Click here for more contact information.

Hot Press always welcomes feed back so if you've got something to tell us click here.

Advertise With Us

For more detail on how to advertise with Hot Press click here or call us on +353 (1) 241 1540