Secret in Their Eyes

Here is a messy but energetic remake of a 2009 Oscar-winning thriller from Argentina.  Secret in Their Eyes is an imperfect film, but the performances and some genuinely tense moments lift it up and make it worth watching.  Of course, the simple logic is that you seek out the original film.  While it is easily superior, this movie feels a little quicker and condensed than the original, and it doesn't really do anything to insult the memory of that film.

The performance that will obviously get the most attention is from Julia Roberts, who has gone through a complete transformation.  Every bit of Hollywood glamour has been stripped from her face to make her look like a woman whose life has fallen apart.  She plays Jess, an LA cop on a counter terrorism team back in 2002, who is looking for evidence of possible attacks in California less than a year after September 11th.  She becomes violently and emotionally shattered when the body of her teenage daughter is discovered raped and murdered in a dumpster near a Mosque. (This is not a spoiler, as it is revealed in the ad campaign of the film.) From there, the action jumps back and forth between 2002, during the initial investigation of the murder, and 2015, when new information that could possibly reopen the case surfaces.

This is the film's biggest flaw, as the fragmented storytelling that jumps back and forth between two different time periods can be hard to follow.  At times, it can be hard to tell if the current scene is supposed to be set in 2002 or 2015.  There are subtle clues in the aging or physical characteristics of the characters (one character walks with a cane in 2015 after an accident, while he walks normally in 2002), but this still could have been handled a lot better.  Even though Jess' shattered emotions over the death of her daughter drives the plot, the main focus of the film is actually her partner from back in the day, Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor from 12 Years a Slave).  He has made it his life's mission to track down the killer, even after he left California at one point to take a job in New York.  Now he's back, with what he thinks is new information on the cold case.  Ray is reunited with Jess, as well as Claire (Nicole Kidman), an attorney whom he shared feelings for at one point, even though she was engaged to be married back then, and is happily married now in 2015.

Both Ejiofor and Kidman are fine in their somewhat limited roles, and do the best that they can with them.  But it is Roberts that clearly carries the film, and gives it all of its emotional weight.  Her performance as a haunted mother is easily the best work she's done in a long time, and it's impressive that she was willing to make herself look so plain, hidden behind pale skin, muddy eyes and a featureless face.  Writer-director Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) unravels information slowly, but at a pace that is still engaging.  The story deals with corruption within the department and the highest levels of government, and even if you have seen the original and know the basic story, there are still some very effectively acted scenes that manage to build suspense.  This is the film's strongest suit, and while the movie fails some uninspired action sequences near the end, the actual investigation into the murder is enough to hold our attention.

What is missing from the original that made it so highly regarded is that this seems like less of a human story.  The romantic subplot between Ray and Claire seems very underpowered.  We can sense some form of chemistry, but it's simply not there as much as it should be.  The original also did a better job of dealing with the topic of grief and depression.  While Roberts gets some incredibly moving moments, and we completely sympathize with her character, it still doesn't resonate as strongly as in the original.  The movie is so focused on the process of the investigation that some of the dramatic power from the 2009 film gets lost.  It's still there, it's just not as front and center.  At times, the movie comes across as an extended Law and Order episode.  Still entertaining, it just simply can't top the impact.  Still, the film's conclusion has been kept the same, and it's just as much of an emotional gut punch as it was before.

Secret in Their Eyes has been made well enough that I am recommending it.  Hopefully it will create more of an interest in the original, but at the same time, there is Roberts' powerful performance to also admire.  The question that faces any remake is why did this need to be made in the first place?  Here, I think her performance at least deserves to be seen.

See related merchandise at Amazon.com!

0 comments