Recipe to please Hollywood

Rating: 5/10 (2 December 2010)

A good melodrama with nice characters who, for some reason, cannot communicate directly. Add a touch of suspense, with a plot taking its time to unfold, and more -contained- pathos. Let it cook for over 2 hours, then you have it.
I am not being unjust here. Yes, 'El Secreto de sus Ojos' is a perfectly crafted movie, with fine performances. Now is it an excellent movie that does resonate and will continue to resonate with audiences a couple of years from now? Certainly not.
So what? I am quite sure we can find a better 2009 'foreign language' movie. So this one has one special thing, a special thing which resonates with the very audience voting for the Award it got. And that's the problem with critics, they love movies on the basis of the limited set of values of their little worlds. So the wider world should never take them into account.
A more personal note: I found it difficult to watch Ricardo Darin act as an almost introverted character. He is really good, but something in the movie doesn't fit. He is buoyant, he is easy-going, yet he behaves as a wimp (most critics must be wimps). Mixing present (old character with hindsight) with flashbacks (wimp) doesn't help to see eye to eye with the main character. And as far as I understand, to some this weakness must be a tremendously valuable asset for the whole movie.