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Created May 02, 2010 01:08AM PST • Edited Jan 06, 2019 02:14AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   More than your ordinary police procedural, this affecting Argentine import includes a decidedly grown-up office romance & insight into Perón’s Argentina. Veteran Law & Order director Juan José Campanella deserves his Best Foreign Language Oscar for an &1 if nothing else.¹

   His film’s two hour running time essentially contains two movies, each deeply distressing then richly satisfying. The first tells the story of a brutal rapist-murderer’s crime & capture; the second the story of Peronista justice, which is to say perverted justice. The passions of those affected by this crime and punishment, especially in Perón’s justice ministry, creates a savory emotional stew.

   Sublime acting and brilliant filmmaking give Secret Eyes rare sophistication. It misses perfection due to the annoyingly repressed emotions of its characters and the preciousness of its novelistic plot device.

   Be Warned About

   • The brutal – albeit brief – homicidal rape scenes.
   • The fast moving Spanish dialog that must be kept up with via subtitles – for over two hours. Whew. Wish I knew Spanish.

   Warnings aside, fans of Law & Order and fine filmmaking alike will find Secret Eyes very rewarding.
   -——————————————————

   ¹ Even if The White Ribbon should have won.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Ricardo Darín gives a Pacino-quality performance as a criminal investigator haunted by a rape-murder and by his inability to open up to his beautiful colleague, though they are clearly destined for each other.

   As that beautiful – and smarter – colleague, Soledad Villamil masterfully flashes subliminal emotions across her face as the men around her – colleagues and perps alike – stumble through situations. She wields these facial expressions like a delicate instrument, never more impressively than when the man she hopes to love fails to step up to the challenge of loving her.

   Three supporting players jump out:

   • Pablo Rago as a bereft husband whose measured response to his wife’s slaying is heartbreaking and awe inspiring.
   • Guillermo Francella as an alcoholic detective who comes through in the clutch, and provides comic relief nearly every time he’s on screen.
   • Javier Godino as a smug and smarmy killer. Movies like this rise only as high as their villains get lowdown. Godino’s villain snakes.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Juan José Campanella directed quite a few Law & Order episodes before returning to Argentina to write and direct Secret Eyes, making his film feel like an ambitious rendering of the quintessential procedural.

    Ambitious indeed, especially in the flashbacks and reunions that thoughtfully reveal the story – first the contours, then the essence. Well done.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Very Good 3.5

    Two complaints: The lead characters are emotionally repressed, limiting the histrionics to the point that the leads are more frustrating than lovable. Also, the plot is set and kept in motion by the precious device of the leading man’s decision to write an autobiographical novel.

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    The intimate cinematography shows the parchment-like texture of older skin, contrasting it to the supple skin of the same character when younger. Other times, the cinematography gets breathtakingly kinetic by apparently having the cameraman run along with the action, most notably in an extended chase scene at a raucous soccer stadium. This tour de force scene breaks new ground in effective hand-held filmmaking.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.5

    Homicidal rape is rarely shown as viscerally violent as here. The scenes – during and after the attack – are no less searing for being short. They linger like a nightmare, giving the search for and punishment of the sociopathic creep who committed the crime the necessary sense of gravitas.

    Less horrifyingly, a demented perp shows his prick.

17. Sex Lewd 3.7

18. Violence Brutal 3.4

19. Rudeness Profane 3.3

21. Reality

    Glib 1.2

    Argentina has a EuroAmerican hybrid feel to it. Of most interest is how the judicial functionaries are shown during the time of Perón. Casual cynicism rules the office, brought on by the government’s cult of personality tone-from-the-top, and by the fact that these civil servants are largely immune from performance-oriented repercussions, unless they cross a higher-up that is.

    Procedure more than common sense rule the day. For instance, a closed case can’t be reopened without turning things upside down. Convenient for drama, bad for performance.

    Finally, the film shows how justice perverted is justice denied, an all too common outcome in authoritarian societies.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.6

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0