Every Secret Thing (2014)

It is a performances centric movie

Fantastic!

The first must-see film of the year.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I give Every Secret Thing a seven star rating purely based on the fact that I was entertained during the whole movie and that the actors and actresses did a good job. None of the cast can't be blamed for bad acting or whatever. The story keeps you alert for almost the whole movie and that's perfect when it's a crime / mystery. I was a bit disappointed by the ultimate ending but nevertheless it was a good story. You don't figure out the whole plot until the end and that's rare with crime / mystery movies. It probably is not the best crime mystery but certainly not the worst either. I would watch it again in a couple years when I forgot about the story.

I saw this last night on TV (granted I missed the first part of the film), but I didn't understand half of what was really going on. Some reviews here talk about a big "twist" at the end - there was no twist I saw. The filming was so dark throughout, you could barely see whatever was going on in key scenes, and so cryptic in dialog in key scenes, you didn't really get it. All you got was how dark and depressed everyone is: the bad guys, the victims, the cops - the whole town!SPOILERS BELOW:1. Did Dakota Fanning's character kill herself in the tub? or was she just soaking in the tub? 2. We don't see the dead child or anything recognizable in the dark hiding place so we have no idea what Elizabeth Banks' is seeing - we are only guessing and surmising thru the whole thing. And what led her to go there? 3. Why is Diane Lane's character, so fawning over Dakota Fanning while trashing her own daughter constantly? 4. How is it blithely passed off in the last moments that the kidnapped kid was being kept by another adult woman with no one noticing and she's never held to account for this? 5. Why is Alice giving a vindicated speech on the courthouse steps when she is the kidnapper? Who cares that she gave away her real kid years before and this somehow justifies kidnapping??? 6. Did they just leave the first child to die? or did Dakota Fanning actually do something (what?) to kill it because she was bullied by Alice?To me, if you are bored, give this a viewing, but I certainly wouldn't waste my time wanting to watch it again.

Diane Lane and Elizabeth Banks do the best work in this film, with Lane given an especially difficult role (and to my knowledge her first not altogether sympathetic one). The film was intelligently scripted, unevenly directed, and for the most part held my interest throughout, more for the character revelations than for the plot points. I do feel however that themes and sub-themes were raised but never really developed or dramatized adequately. For example, the bi-racial character of the community and of the principal characters is prominently presented, but then not really given adequate thematic development in the story. We learn, for example, that the kidnapped baby is the daughter of the first black judge in the county, but not much is done with that fact, or with any of the other bi-racial tropes. Also a quibble, but I think relevant when the filmmakers are striving for realism: when the second young girl has gone missing, only the two detectives seem at all involved in finding her. I believe that anywhere in the US (or in many other countries as well) if a child goes missing for more than 24 hours or even less, the entire region pours forth a huge response in the form of media attention, volunteers from the community by the dozens, additional law enforcement from nearby communities, etc. None of that was evident, and simply points out a general problem with this story - that it was not well enough thought out as a whole. Still I recommend it for the work of Diane Lane and Elizabeth Banks.

This is an interesting little film. It's a dark story full of grim characters, most of the which are the type you hope never enter your life. You could call this film predictable (and it is to be fair) but I don't think that's where the strength of this film was ever supposed to lie. The strength lies in just how interesting the characters are. The mystery of just how evil each of them potentially is just adds to things.For an under-the-radar film it has a pretty strong cast. Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks and Dakota Fanning all turn in strong performances and the lesser known actors do a good job as well. It's also well directed and despite there being almost no action scenes during the 90 minute run time, the film never drags which is always a good sign. Altogether it's a fine little film that I hope a lot more people get the chance to see.