THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (2015)

This film directed by Billy Ray is based on the 2009 Argentine film THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES directed by Juan Jose Campanella which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film which in turn was based on the novel THE QUESTION IN THEIR EYES by Argentinian author Eduardo Sacheri. Though I have basically seen this story done many times before, particularly in TV movies, it is still compelling with an extraordinary set of actors led by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts who will probably land an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. However the film really rests with the character played by Mr. Ejiofor who balances everything towards this picture’s conclusion. I should also point out that though Ms. Kidman has the less showy role of the two female characters, hers is actually far more difficult to play because she has to hold everything back and does so beautifully. This is not to detract from the wonderful and brilliant job done by Ms. Roberts, but to show how well everyone compliments the other. I could actually kick myself for not having figured out way ahead of time what was going to happen, though I managed to figure it out about five minutes before the secret was revealed. This is to the director Billy Ray’s credit who also wrote the screenplay based on the original film and novel. I was particularly impressed with the cinematography of Danny Moder who really lends Los Angeles a true film noir type of elegance. Though you may have seen this type of film before, it’s still worth viewing as a very fine piece of filmmaking.