Excellent (a bit long)--Fantastic thriller.

A very good detective story and love story with a nice twist at the end. Well acted and directed. The makeup bothered me a bit because it seemed a bit too much and even a bit fake, giving the actors a pasty look..

Great acting and dialogue, flashes of sheer brilliance. The problem is the first hour develops primarily in flashback and robs the mystery of immediacy. When it returns to the present, the suspense kicks in, and all the languid meandering development pays off so well you forget how annoyingly novelistic and "arty" the first half really was.

It's a very good murder mystery that, by the time the final twist kicks in, transforms into an moving meditation on memory and justice.

The key here is catching everything that they say. Every word(rapidly spoken) provides a beautiful piece in creating the big picture. The movie stirs many emotions, and it leaves you satisfied yet thinking about alotta things. It will take patience, however if you stick through it I'd bet my family jewels you wont regret it.

Very impressive and interesting--rich adult fare.

This movie is a dazzler. The screenplay is something you don't see these days, it's Billy Wilder caliber. The actors really inhabit those characters, and the final twist is at the same time jaw dropping and completely meaningful.

Kinda shit sandwich.

A moving romantic thriller. The cast are excellent, the story well developed, and yes, the football stadium shot is brilliant. Here's hoping Hollywood leave the original well alone.

Really not much to this movie. Critic who said it was "kiddie-pool deep" hit the mark. Seems like a made-for-TV movie, the Lifetime channel. Hard to believe it was even nominated for an Oscar.

Wonderful. Rich, suspenseful, smart, romantic and intense. Relatable characters, great cinematography and thought-provoking twist(s). A great thriller, told in a skillful way.

This is a splendid movie - a murder mystery, a romance, a political history and a contemplation of what comprises a meaningful life. The casting and acting are spot on, the dialogue crisp, the characters compelling, and the cinematography intelligent and appropriate. You will go to bed with it in your head and it will be there when you wake up and you will want to see it again.

Argentinian romance crime drama The Secret in Their Eyes was released in the U.S. after winning the 2010 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Writer-director Juan Jose Campanella has crafted thoughtfulness and humanity into this masterwork. Graceful arcs of script are translated lovingly into story on film. Action and plot move in satisfying ways. Relationships develop fully and believably. The film uses no cinematic formula, and only one CSI-like murder scene. It moves from present to past to present with all the naturalness of fully realized drama. Soulful Ricardo Darin plays Benjamin Esposito, a retired detective now writing a novel. Benjamin once worked for Irene Menendez Hastings (Soledad Villamil), now a judge. Irene had been Benjamin’s superior in a criminal investigation unit. We discover that Benjamin's novel revolves around a real case, the rape and murder of a young schoolteacher 25 years ago. The book also reveals a story of forbidden love during those years. Benjamin's attraction to Irene, a lawyer of wealth and social standing, is so doomed that he dares not pursue it. When the truth emerges, Irene divulges her feelings for Benjamin. Yet she is already engaged. The Secret in Their Eyes is a love story wrapped within a detective story, made more delightful by unexpected infusions of humor. The plot keeps gifting us in unexpected ways. One twist occurs when a fascist government official changes the course of events after Gomez (Javier Godino) is imprisoned for the woman's murder. The film also becomes the story of Benjamin's life and his decisions. Campanella (who directed over a dozen Law & Order: SVU episodes) gives us just enough detail and nuance to portray the detective as a put upon hero who's always bailing out his alcoholic assistant Sandoval. Yet he is also a dedicated, honest public servant stubbornly chasing justice. Benjamin ultimately remains a detective, following the clues of his own life to transcend what seemed his own certain ending. Villamil is unforgettable in several scenes, in particular during her cagey interrogation of the schoolteacher's suspected murderer. The Secret in Their Eyes asks several questions. How do we deal with emptiness? How do we reconcile our past life with the present? Here the realities of "what happened" and "what is possible" arise and intertwine. Felix Monti's cinematography is unassuming but powerful. Most memorably choreographed is a chase scene in a crowded soccer stadium (CGI effects were utilized). Guillermo Francella creates a tragic, ironic Sandoval, and Pablo Rago convinces us as the murder victim's obsessed husband Morales.… Expand

A well made crime drama, ties together a long period of time well. Not going to blow your mind. Some of the subtlety may have been lost in translation.

What an inspired gem of a film. Fantastic acting - some of the best I have had the pleasure of watching in years. Unique plot and story with some great humour. But overall a dark drama with undertones which you can never quite see, but can certainly feel. The film starts scratching a bit deeper below the surface, and this is when it really keeps you captivated. I just wish more people would watch it and experience the clever directing of Campanella. Forget the subtitles ... I would rather "read" a great film, than watch a mediocre one any day!… Expand

The movie is beautifully written (adapted from a novel). I liked how it manages to weave the personal with the political and plenty of suspense seamlessly. Very complex in a good way. Great acting too. Apparently not as good as Jack Black's School of Rock, according to critics, ja ja.

After watching a series of mediocre films, the next one you watch which is outstanding is even that much more special; you appreciate it more. I had the luck to watch this after a string of disappointing films. This film does not make any wrong moves. The story is tight, the acting is wonderful, the cinematography is impressive, and even though it concerns such heavy subject matter, the end doesn't leave the audience without any good feelings or something to look forward to. At first, it appears to be a standard look back at the one case the investigator could never stop thinking about; the one which got away. But the script does not let it remain an average whodunit where the audience sits through the standard motions of will they ever get the bad guy through a series of staged events. The dialogue is crisp and interesting, individual scenes are fleshed out and given weight, and even the slight twist of an ending does not disappoint or lend itself to implausibility. It is also not just a police procedural or suspense thriller; there are multiple sub-plots devoted to an unmentioned romance and plenty of reminders that Argentina was not very democratic during the 1970s. There is a political underlining beneath the characters' actions and hushed conversations which display their fear towards not just the government, but even people who may or may not be government informers. The Secret in Their Eyes deservedly won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. It shows the audience how Argentina was during the time of the secret police and disappearances which really was not very long ago. I highly encourage everyone to take the time and enjoy this movie; it will not disappoint.… Expand

A movie so rich and emotionally grabbing, you'll still have it on your mind days later. One of the finest murder-mysteries/romances (not that there are many) to ever be committed to film. Covering guilt, regret, love and obsession, the twisting, turning narrative featuring fully fleshed-out and believable characters will engage you from the start, and it's even occasionally darkly comic! A true gem.… Expand