Every Secret Thing

Despite a very talented cast the movie fails to deliver. I did not enjoy it. The storyline is intriguing at first but it's too slow paced and there's no satisfaction at the end and no expectations as to what motivated the characters. The acting is ok but the editing and filming are not. The movie is so dark. Did they run out of money for lightning? Some scenes you can barely see anything on the screen. The story also goes nowhere. I wanted to understand who did what and why. What made two young girls commit such a terrible crime? Why is the mother acting so weird to her own daughter? Why was the baby even alone? Who was charged with what and why? Why aren't the detectives doing their jobs? Are there no cameras in the mall? No witnesses? No leads? The way the story is developing is just not right and it doesn't even make sense if you really think about it. I really can't recommend this movie. It was mostly depressing, bizarre and overall disappointing.

I just read some of the longest reviews in history which totally missed the point . . . women are human, and will behave as such, which is fascinating. The only problem for me as a father was the baby being left alone on the front porch, none of my babysitters would have done this even on a bad day. Been looking forward to this one for a while and was a bit disappointed to be honest, it could have been exceptional with a few changes.

I believe this film is worth a view as long as you are not expecting too much. Elizabeth Banks is solid as is Diane Lane and the other actors, directing is decent. OK movie based on good writing. 5/10

I actually enjoyed this. It kept me interested, and I did enjoy the plot twist towards the end

A three year old child goes missing in a small town where two teenage girls live, girls who had been recently released from prisoned for a previous child kidnapping and murder. Needless to say, suspicion soon falls on them.

The central idea in this film recalls the notorious British crime, the Jamie Bulger case. In this instance two young boys kidnapped and killed a toddler. It created a media storm and has remained notorious ever since. For this reason, 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. 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 keep my interest from start to finish.

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.