Latest version of complicated tale keeps pace with original
Secret in Their Eyes is a worthy remake of Argentinian masterpiece
First, let me reveal the secret in MY eyes. They have twice witnessed the complicated 2009 Argentinian crime-drama-romcom-noir-thriller-Oscar-winner El secreto de sus ojos, on which this new film is based. And the original remains one of my favourite movies of all time.
When news of a remake first surfaced, I feared it would sully the memory of the Spanishlanguage El secreto; but I also knew that at least it would give me a reason to once more sing its praises. In fact, the worse the copy, the better the archetype would appear.
But now I am in the awkward position of admitting that the new movie isn’t bad at all. You must see the original, which is still much better, but I can’t in good faith steer you away from this one.
The basic structure remains the same as in the original. The story unfolds in two parallel time frames set a dozen years apart.
In 2002, Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor), is an FBI agent newly arrived on the terrorism task force, and tasked with infiltrating a mosque to look for possible jihadists. His boss is Claire (Nicole Kidman), whose social status — plus the fact that she’s engaged — puts the damper on what is clearly a mutual attraction.
Ray is also friends with policewoman Jess, played by Julia Roberts, deliberately wearing the worst haircut of her film career. He also knows Jess’s college-aged daughter (Zoe Graham), so he recognizes the body when she turns up dead in a Dumpster near the mosque.
Jess is also there, so we get a powerful scene as she first realizes who the victim is.
The other half of the movie takes place in the present. Ray has left the force to become a private security consultant for a baseball team, but he continues to carry a torch for Claire, and another for Jess and her daughter.
The case has gone cold, but Ray continues an obsessive search for the man he considers the prime suspect.
In fact, in the opening scene he approaches Claire, now a district attorney, with a lead on the perp.
So on the one hand Secret in Their Eyes is a police procedural, with Ray tracking down leads and questioning suspects with help from his amusingly named partner Bumpy (Dean Norris), but none at all from fellow cop Reg (Michael Kelly), or the 2002 D.A., played by Alfred Molina.
But it’s also a restrained unrequited-love story; catching a crook and stealing someone’s heart both often turn on timing and luck.
The star-crossed leads are both excellent, though can I just say how much I miss the smouldering glances that passed between Soledad Villamil and Ricardo Darín in that other movie?
But the real revelation here is Roberts as we’ve never seen her — and to be fair we haven’t seen much of her these past few years as she’s focused on family.
As Jess, her grief at the loss of her daughter slowly hardens into madness — both the angry kind but also a touch of the psychotic variety, both of them signalled by a look in (of course), her eyes.