The Secret in Their Eyes

I am actually shocked that I have not written about this film yet. I know that there is this holy grail quest for the "perfect movie" and there have been arguments and discussions, all probably very heated, on the merits of candidates for this elusive title. I am probably making a huge mistake in doing this, but here I go, very timidly I might add, and present to you my "perfect movie."

I think that it has all the aspects that a perfect movie should have. This film strikes an incredible balance with its tone (it's a drama but it has definitely comedic moments; it's a romance and an unrequited love story; it's a mystery; it's a thriller; it's political), it has a lot of heart and works with thematic giants, it's beautifully directed and acted, it's cinematically stunning...

It's hard not to wax poetic about this movie because I could go on and on. It is also hard not to give anything away because all I want to do is rant about the different layers of the film, the characters and their choices, those final two scenes... I must refrain.

The fact that I don't want to reveal too much about TSITE is because when I saw it, I was with my father and we had no idea what we were walking into. This act of blindness was probably the best choice we could have ever made because the whole movie was open to us without any preconceived notions of what was going to happen and what story was being told.

Without getting to specific, I'm going to try to express how amazing I think this movie is. Because TSITE deals with so many complex themes and subjects, it could have easily become a cinematic mess but the subtle and very real performances by the cast worked perfectly with and balanced the plot. As this story takes place in memory, in the 1970s, and in current day, the cinematography does a brilliant job portraying the differences in each time frame. The score mirrors the sentimentality of our protagonist when needed and the lack of score in some places is brilliant.

Categories of Note:
Acting
Direction
Cinematography
Score
Subject Matter/Themes
Plot

Parent Watchability: There is violence in this film so avoid watching with younger kids. This movie is a great subject for conversation with other family members and it's much more enjoyable if you watch it with others and are able to discuss it afterwards.

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