Oscar winner no longer 'Secret’

“The Secret in Their Eyes” became a familiar name to American film lovers earlier this year when it won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

The Argentinean film is the story of a vigilant federal justice agent who, along with his best friend and a young lawyer, sets out to convict a man accused of rape and murder of a woman. After an unsuccessful attempt to put him behind bars, the killer appears to drop off the map. But in the film’s penultimate scene, a brilliant twist changes everything.  
All of the performances are spot on, and director Juan Jose Campanella shines in familiar territory. He has also directed seventeen episodes of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

That’s not a slight against it, though; the film clearly earned its Oscar. Through tense dialogue and claustrophobic camera work, the gravity that the movie’s central crime holds for all of its characters is made abundantly clear. Every scene is crucial, and more importantly, well-executed.