Secretos Ocultos

The movie in itself has a solid story. Andy Garcia is Michael Hunter a psychiatrist who loses his son by suicide. That leaves him devastated for three years, divorcing his wife and giving not the proper attention to his daughter. (We're all human, right?) By incident he gets a patient that reminds him of his son. This kid seems to be OK, but he has a troubled past. He will be released in a few weeks and Hunter must find out if that is correct. We as viewers no pretty soon, that it is not and hope that Hunter finds out before the deadline as well...

It may not seem as original and maybe it isn't, but I am still thinking about it, 12 hours after I saw it and personally I think that is great in this era of popcorn films...

Other aspects that are part of a movie, like lightning and acting are really great!! Vincent Kartheiser was probably cast because of this eyes, but he really gives a chilling performance.

A leading psychiatrist has his world turned upside down by a tragic family event. He shuns patients, until being drawn back by a young man who witnessed his father kill his mother, but seems strangely unaffected by the event.

A great script that respects the audience, leaving a lot of information off-screen. When the story moves forward a few years and Garcia and his wife have separated, we fill in the blanks automatically and never have to be told why it happened. Tommy turns up with a car, and we know fine well how he got it, some despicable act cleverly left to our imaginations. Tommy is astoundingly, creepily normal given his circumstances, until his psychosis explodes suddenly. After that he tries in vain to get it back in the box. Garcia has never been better, every inch the grief-stricken father, his expressions nuanced and painful. He handles his 'revelation' in a prison scene near the end with aplomb.

The one downside is a maudlin, overbearing score that draws too much attention to itself.

This is a film that deserves to be better known. Thrillers with this kind of plot seldom have such multi-layered characters, or believable families and settings. An intelligent, rewarding film that I look forward to watching again.

Direct to video release produced and starring Andy Garcia. Also starring Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men) and Linda Cadellini (Freaks and Geeks).

Definitely a melodrama, slow moving but with some interesting plot points. Vincent Kartheiser is good as the troubled young man, playing both creepy and vulnerable. A young Linda Cardellini is beautiful as always and as anyone who saw Freaks and Geeks knows is excellent as portraying a realistic teenager. She also sings a song. Andy Garcia is a bit subdued but realistic enough in the main role.

Overall it's fairly middling. Overly melodramatic at times and the ending is poor. Honestly I enjoyed it mostly because of seeing a few more famous actor's (Kartheiser and Cardellini)in an early role.

It's a 2:00 AM on a cable kind of a movie. Not terrible, but not exactly good

If you are a father, and you lose a son you will find this motion picture a little to hard to endure 'till the end of it. A good script, directed almost perfectly. I watch it once and i will always remember as i remember my child. The music was i may say, everything ... Actors doing such a great job... Andy Garcia playing so well that you may think that is not a movie but a Real TV story. A drama who can keep you with the eyes on it 'till the end. You'll never know what its gonna happened next. Dunno if i wanna watch it again. It was a movie that made me cry... something that its almost impossible for me. Maybe i'm a not a good person to comment this movie, because some of what happened there i lived and its hard to be equidistant, but it moved me so bad.

This is a surprising movie that sneaks up on the viewer in many ways--starting off with a bang and never lapsing into self-indulgence or violence for it's own sake; Andy Garcia, who produced the film, obviously cares about his part and surrounded himself with actors who felt likewise, the entire cast convincing in a combination of teen problem film crossed with a psychological thriller. It is also a film about family problems, and I found it never trivial and frequently a nail-biter.

I'd never heard of this film, and would stress, with others who have written about it, that if you're thinking about watching it, you avoid written material about the plot: the surprises are half the fun!