The foreign language category at the Oscars is always interesting. Each year there are one or two films that everyone expects to win and then another film comes along and gets it. This year everyone expected either 'The White Ribbon' or 'A Prophet' to win but instead it went to this film.
Winning an Oscar can bring certain expectations for a film and that is especially true of this film. Now while it is an excellent film I don't think it is brilliant enough to win an Oscar. The only other film in that category I saw was 'The White Ribbon' and I thought that was a much better film. The story here is fairly conventional, with a former detective investigating a case he had trouble with in his career. His investigation is pretty normal and not with many interesting twists. There is a good one at the end though. Some of the characters are a little cliched too. The detective's alcoholic partner is a bit that way. The one sub-plot I did like was that of the unrequited love affair the detective has with his boss. It is very sweet and has a good ending. I think it's the romantic side of me that likes it so much.
Richardo Darin is excellent as the detective. He is able to play his older and younger self very well with only a hair colour change. Soledad Villamil is brilliant as his unrequited love. I wish we could have seen more of her in the film. The two of them have a great chemistry and you can feel the sexual tension between them.
Don't get your hopes up too high with this film just because it won an Oscar. It is an excellent film but just not as great as you may expect.
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