Writer: Nicole Holofcener (Screenplay) Laura Lippman (Novel)
Starring: Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning, Nate Parker, Common
Plot: 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.
Tagline – Don’t look away for even a second.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Excellent Mystery Thriller
Story: Every Secret Thing starts when Alice and Ronnie a young girls kill a baby, now they are 18-years-old Alice (Macdonald) is living back with her teacher mother Helen (Lane) who is trying to help get her back into society, while Ronnie (Fanning) gets back into work. When another toddler goes missing Nancy Porter (Banks) and Kevin Jones (Parker) a leading the investigation.
As the disappearance starts becoming lengthy, the detectives turn to Alice and Ronnie for answers, believing they might have an answer, which leads to a look into the past event which left the girls in juvenile hall, will the past unlock the truth and save the missing child?
Thoughts on Every Secret Thing
Characters – Alice is one of two girls that was sent away for a baby’s death, she has always been an outside and social awkward child, now 18, she wants to be part of the world, only she finds herself being lonely, distant from her mother and still in belief that she wasn’t involved with original death. Ronnie is the other girl that was sent away, she does seem like somebody that would get in trouble more and takes the baby, she has put her life back in order, while still coming off shady and broken. Helen is Alice’s mother, she is a teacher that has always wanted to help young people develop, but she struggles to get through to her own daughter. Nancy Porter is leading the investigation, she was the detective that discovered the baby and now she wants to learn more about the truth, trying to uncover the years of damage both the girls have and is in a race against time to not find another dead child.
Performances – Danielle Macdonald gives a star making performance in this leading role, we see such a range in her performance it will leave you mesmerised by her performance. Dakota Fanning is great too, we see how conflicted her character is with the events of the film, while Diane Lane, brings the distant mother to life with ease. Elizabeth Banks is wonderful too, giving us a performance that showed how determined she is get the case closed.
Story – The story here follows two detectives that must find a missing child, with the two teenage girls who recently got released from juvenile hall becoming the prime suspects as they were locked up for killing a baby. This story shows us plenty, while keeping the truth from us for so long, the story does give us plenty of hints to the truth and by re-watching you will pick up on all of them. We do get to see how mistakes of the past can do two things, break people with guilt or make them embrace their problems becoming a threat to the world. We are left guessing to what the truth will be which is extremely great to see in any crime mystery and everything is played into stories from the past and how people remember them.
Crime/Mystery – The crime side of this film is the investigation to the missing child, we see how the clues are uncovered which only dives further into the mystery of the story.
Settings – The film is set in a small town, which was rocked by the first crime and one that will come together to try and solve the new crime.
Scene of the Movie – The truth.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We get a strange first introduction to detective Jones, only for it to mean nothing.
Final Thoughts – This is a thriller that will keep you guessing, it has plenty of clues in the story that will give you the truth to everything that is happening in the film.
Overall: Must watch crime mystery.