Every Secret Thing (2015) Review!!

Synopsis – A detective looks to unravel a mystery surrounding missing children and the prime suspects: two young women who, seven years ago, were put away for an infant’s death.

My Take – Based on Laura Lippman’s 2004 bestseller, this Amy Berg directed thriller is inspired by the true events of the Jamie Bulger case, in which two young boys kidnapped and killed a toddler. The ideas underpinning this story are based on controversial ground but the film itself is handled in a very understated manner. It’s partly a police procedural mystery and part psychological drama. In the case of the former, it is perhaps not as intriguing as it could be, although admittedly it does have some twists and turns; of the latter it is perhaps more successful where it looks at why a couple of damaged girls and one mother act the way they do. It’s an efficient film, rather than an especially good one but it did manage to hold my interest from start to finish. 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. The film gives us two very distinct personalities of the lead characters, and slowly changes our perception of them, and the people in their lives, as it proceeds. The people who initially have our sympathy may not hold it at the end, as more revelations about the past emerge even while the investigation in the present is going on. It raises interesting questions about the justice system, how responsible kids that age are for unspeakable crimes and the accountability of parents in such matters. The ending will split opinion, but I admired the realism of it. Sometimes, the people who should be punished aren’t, and this is something all too common in courtrooms all over the world. Maybe thats what is called karma. The story follows Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller, a pair united not by friendship so much as their respective relationships with Alice’s overly permissive mother, Helen (Diane Lane). After getting kicked out of a popular girl’s pool party after Ronnie has a violent outburst.

On their way home, they discover an infant left alone in her stroller on her front porch. Cut to the opening titles, which, via images of newspaper clippings, explain that the baby—Olivia Barnes, granddaughter of the first African-American judge in the Hudson River-adjacent Orangetown, New York—was kidnapped and found dead, and Alice and Ronnie were found guilty in her murder. The story resumes years after Olivia’s death, shortly after 18-year-olds Ronnie (Dakota Fanning) and Alice (Danielle Macdonald) have been released from juvenile detention and return to Orangetown, attempting to resume normal lives. Around the same time they come back, a young girl disappears during a shopping trip with her parents, prompting Detective Nancy Porter (Elizabeth Banks), the same cop who found Olivia’s body years before, & her partner Detective Kevin Jones (Nate Parker) to investigate. Naturally, before long, Porter turns her seasoned, crime-solving eyes to Ronnie and Alice. All signs point to Ronnie but she insists she is innocent. It is up to Detective Porter to find the missing girl before it’s too late. I cannot go into too much detail without exploding several spoilers, but suffice it to say that unlike a legitimate, classical mystery structure there is a key character not introduced in the film properly but only in the myriad flashbacks later in order to to make any sense of what happened. I suppose that 21st Century audiences massaged by hit acronym TV procedural s are used to this. The film is intelligently scripted, yet unevenly directed, and for the most part held my interest throughout, more for the character revelations than for the plot points. Somehow the film is reminiscent of F. Gary Gray’s 2009 thriller film “Law Abiding Citizen” where the main character succeeds in mocking the justice system. Unlike the older film, the film has many technical issues and painstakingly struggles to build up the necessary tension for a crime thriller, but then only mildly able to do so. That incident parallels with the present problem and Detective Porter desperately fits the puzzle together. However, as the story is told and the secrets are unraveled, the movie becomes messy and cluttered. It continually slips from focus and the main theme gets lost in the haze. Consider that point in the beginning when the detective’s partner initially suspects the baby’s father as involved in the kidnapping. This misleads the viewers and instead of cementing the tension, it veers from the subject and weakens the premises earlier established. The same rise and fall of thrill and distractions from the central matter can be observed throughout the film. I do also feel 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 world, 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. Yet, the movie does a fantastic job pointing out how sick some people can be for attention. Even more strong of a point considering the movie looks like it took place before social media. Somehow at times it is a well balanced very sad story about two girls who become the suspects in a missing persons case just because they were convicted of the same crime seven years ago. The film makes up by assembling an astounding cast which worked well in complementing each other. Elizabeth Banks, obviously cherishing a cast-against-type tough (yet still vulnerable) lady role, but hampered by a poor plot gimmick that makes her the same cop who was traumatized by finding the very same dead girl that put Ronnie & Alice in jail seven years earlier (though no one in the cast knows this -only Banks and the audience), she is like able. Dakota Fanning appears trite and erratic as Ronnie. Common, the famous rapper, gives the one of movie’s best performance as the not-by-blood parent of a missing girl whose disappearance at a furniture store immediately bringing our anti-heroine pair under suspicion. It is Lane and Macdonald who went home run with their performances as Helen and Alice Manning, respectively. Lane’ role here is quite similar to the one Julianne Moore played in Kimberly Peirce’s version of “Carrie”. In both films, the overprotective mother whose love blinded her reasons and judgment. Though she only appears a few times in the present movie, her character is significant, marked and unforgettable. Similarly, newcomer Macdonald delivers well with her nuances of tenderness, weakness, insecurity, bitterness and hunger. Director Amy J. Berg is best known for her award-winning documentaries & there are certain moments in the film where there is that certain surrealistic vibe and raw quality. Yet, it may have not worked right this time as the grainy texture, combined with the film’s generally depressing air, can shake the audience’s interest and make everything dull. On the whole ‘Every Secret Thing’ is close to exciting, almost mesmerizing and little intriguing film. However, most of the elements of a watchable movie seem to work against it. For its original story material and brilliant cast, it is watchable once.