"The Secrets We Keep" (2020 release; 97 min.) brings the story of Maja. As the movie opens, Maja is in a park with her son. Suddenly she recognizes a man's voice nearby, but he takes off before she can confront him. We get to know Maja, who is originally from Romania and met her now-husband (a doctor) just after WWII somewhere in Europe. Later on, she runs into the guy at a store and she follows him as he walks home. This time she is sure: this is the guy who in WWII raped and abused her and her sister. She decides to take the law into her own hands... At this point we are less that 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest film from Israeli director Yuval Adler ("The Operative"). Here he brings us a remake of the 1994 Roman Polanski film "Death and the Maiden" (itself based on the theater play of the same name), which was well received at the time. Maybe because a quarter century has come and gone, someone had the brilliant (?) idea of doing a remake of that film, but transposing the setting from contemporary Chile to the late 50s US (we see that a movie theater is showing "North by Northwest", which was released in 1959). The film shows its theater roots, as much of the film takes place in the house of Maja and her husband (where they are detaining the guy). Alas, something is very off with this film. The plot seems strung together by the numbers, and at no time did I feel any connection with these characters, and instead just watch how it unfolds: does Maja have the right guy or not? Noomi Rapace tries her best as Maja, but even she cannot save this film. When all is said and done, "The Secrets We Keep" is a remake that nobody asked for or was waiting on.
"The Secrets We Keep" was supposed to open earlier this year, but a little thing called COVID-19 messed up those plans. The movie finally opened in select theaters this weekend, including at my art-house theater here in Cincinnati, which adheres strictly to all COVID-10 protocols. Not that it mattered, as the Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at turned out to be a private screening: I was the only one in the theater. If you have any interest in this film or maybe are a fan of Noomi Rapace, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this is the latest film from Israeli director Yuval Adler ("The Operative"). Here he brings us a remake of the 1994 Roman Polanski film "Death and the Maiden" (itself based on the theater play of the same name), which was well received at the time. Maybe because a quarter century has come and gone, someone had the brilliant (?) idea of doing a remake of that film, but transposing the setting from contemporary Chile to the late 50s US (we see that a movie theater is showing "North by Northwest", which was released in 1959). The film shows its theater roots, as much of the film takes place in the house of Maja and her husband (where they are detaining the guy). Alas, something is very off with this film. The plot seems strung together by the numbers, and at no time did I feel any connection with these characters, and instead just watch how it unfolds: does Maja have the right guy or not? Noomi Rapace tries her best as Maja, but even she cannot save this film. When all is said and done, "The Secrets We Keep" is a remake that nobody asked for or was waiting on.
"The Secrets We Keep" was supposed to open earlier this year, but a little thing called COVID-19 messed up those plans. The movie finally opened in select theaters this weekend, including at my art-house theater here in Cincinnati, which adheres strictly to all COVID-10 protocols. Not that it mattered, as the Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at turned out to be a private screening: I was the only one in the theater. If you have any interest in this film or maybe are a fan of Noomi Rapace, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.