sanjeevpuli
Some movies just connect with us more deeply and increase our respect towards films. This is one of such movies. The way story is told and the impact it leaves after we finished watching can't be explained in in words. Even though I watched the whole movie with the help of subtitles(as it is in Spanish) , I never felt any significant difference in movie experience , it's largely due to amazing acting and direction. One of the unforgettable movies I watched ever.Final 30 minutes is just mind blowing.
classicsoncall
This is only the second Argentinian movie I've seen, both within the past week (the other was "Wild Tales"), and so far I'm batting a thousand by picking two immensely satisfying films. I was reading some of the negative reviews and I had to laugh, more than one stated that the ending was completely predictable. Yeah right, like anyone could foresee that Morales would kidnap the guy who murdered his wife and keep him a prisoner for twenty five years. Come on, nobody could see that coming.At least not ahead of time. After the fact, when you start putting two and two together, along with the picture's title, one is able to come to grips with the idea that Morales wouldn't let things go the way the corrupt district Judge Romano (Mariano Argento) did, and would relentlessly pursue his side of the case, in the same manner legal counselor Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) did on his. So much of the story depended on the concept that 'The eyes speak', and in more ways than one. It's what trapped the killer and what gave away the feelings between Esposito and his supervisor Irene Hastings (Soledad Villamil), even though that relationship went unrequited for more than two decades.The scene that really floored me was when Irene and Esposito began interrogating Isidoro Gomez (Javier Godino). I'm not entirely convinced that what Ms. Hastings did was ethical or not, but the way she demeaned Gomez to make him crack was truly inspired. The man would have to have been deranged to expose himself like that in a law office, so you had a pretty good idea right there that the guy wasn't playing with a full deck. The fact that he was released upon executive order is one of those things that makes one see red in any kind of movie, and inspires that much more contempt of the justice system.All the while of course, one wonders why Esposito could never reveal his true feelings and intentions with Ms. Hastings. He came close a couple of times, and it looked like she was willing to reciprocate, but those frustrating moments dissolved into just another distraction. I was ready to give it up for lost until the very last scene when Irene told Benjamin that 'it would be difficult'. It leaves the viewer a bit conflicted because the woman had a husband and family that she was going to compromise, something that she and Esposito had done for the last twenty five years.
marianajb
A movie with flashbacks, love, crime, passion, drama, and mystery. That is just the perfect combination. First of all the cinematography is extraordinary, is different, and is risky; and the result is magical. Strating with the positions of the cameras, at some point of the scene they use an angle that is not very common, its original and I loved it. Ricardo Darín is an excellent actor, one of the best in Latin America. his performance in this movie was pretty good. Also Guillermo Francella performance was very very good. The whole screenplay is thrilling from beginning to end, and once it ends, you still wish for more. Is these kind of movies, is these kind of art that makes me proud to be a Latin American. Many people complain the language they use, but I think is wonderful because it adapts itself perfect to the film.
Takethispunch
Retiree Benjamín Espósito is having trouble getting started on his first novel. He pays a visit to the offices of Judge Irene Menéndez Hastings to tell her about his plans to recount the story of the Liliana Coloto case, the one they both worked on 25 years before, when Irene was his new department chief and he was the federal agent assigned to the case. Irene suggests that Benjamin start at the beginning.The beginning marks the discovery of Coloto's body, raped and murdered in her home in 1974. Espósito promises her widower, Ricardo Morales, that the killer will do life for his crime. Morales states that he opposes the death penalty. Espósito's investigation is joined by his alcoholic friend and assistant, Pablo Sandoval, and the Cornell Law School-educated Menéndez. Before the three can start, their rival, Romano, tries to show them up by having officers beat a confession out of two innocent laborers, who had been working near the couple's apartment. Espósito has the confessions overturned and lashes out at Romano in a justice building hall. Espósito threatens to file a complaint as Romano racially insults the construction workers.