Memorable, crazy movie

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Frances McDormand acts as a first-time executive producer in this psychological thriller entitled Every Secret Thing.Diane Lane,Elizabeth Banks,Dakota Fanning,Danielle Macdonald,Colin Donnell and Nate Parker stars in this film that tells the story about a detective conducting an investigation on missing children in a small town.Detective Nancy Porter remains haunted by his inability to save the life of a missing child from two children,Alice and Ronnie.After eight years,he finds herself conducting an investigation on another missing child after the two children convicted of the crime eight year ago were released from juvenile detention.She and her partner are determined to never let the current missing child from dying in the hands of the two released juveniles.They start investigating the mothers of the said children particularly Helen,the mother of Alice. Then they begin to discover a lot of secrets particularly the events of the crime that had happened eight years ago.Well,this was a predictable thriller wherein everything was explained in the end.Also,we get to see a somewhat confusing movie considering that it was told in a non-chronological order to add complexity to a somewhat simple crime story.In the end,the viewer is treated to a film wherein the least expected suspect to commit the crime is evidently guilty all along.So it was basically predictable especially when Diane Lane's character Helen starts explaining things.One thing that is noticeable is the fact that we are treated to a female-centered crime story wherein the criminals,the detectives,the suspects,the victims,victims' relatives and the missing links are all female characters.

I saw this last night on TV (granted I missed the first part of the film), but I didn't understand half of what was really going on. Some reviews here talk about a big "twist" at the end - there was no twist I saw. The filming was so dark throughout, you could barely see whatever was going on in key scenes, and so cryptic in dialog in key scenes, you didn't really get it. All you got was how dark and depressed everyone is: the bad guys, the victims, the cops - the whole town!SPOILERS BELOW:1. Did Dakota Fanning's character kill herself in the tub? or was she just soaking in the tub? 2. We don't see the dead child or anything recognizable in the dark hiding place so we have no idea what Elizabeth Banks' is seeing - we are only guessing and surmising thru the whole thing. And what led her to go there? 3. Why is Diane Lane's character, so fawning over Dakota Fanning while trashing her own daughter constantly? 4. How is it blithely passed off in the last moments that the kidnapped kid was being kept by another adult woman with no one noticing and she's never held to account for this? 5. Why is Alice giving a vindicated speech on the courthouse steps when she is the kidnapper? Who cares that she gave away her real kid years before and this somehow justifies kidnapping??? 6. Did they just leave the first child to die? or did Dakota Fanning actually do something (what?) to kill it because she was bullied by Alice?To me, if you are bored, give this a viewing, but I certainly wouldn't waste my time wanting to watch it again.

This film definitely borders on the macabre.Two little brats, equally disturbed, kidnap a baby and literally let it die and are sent to a reformatory for what they have done.Fast forward seven years later: The girls are released and begin telling varied tales which of course leads to one blaming the death of the child on the other.When a second inter-racial child is snatched, naturally suspicion arises regarding our two females.Diane Lane is in a most perplexing character. She is an elementary school teacher and mother of Alice, a very heavy set girl, who walks around. Where is the shame that the Lane character should have for a daughter doing such a thing? Amazing with her own irrational behavior that she was able to continue in the teaching profession.The film takes an odd twist when it is learned that Alice was impregnated during her stay and gave birth to a child. She is desperately looking for that child and participated solely in the second kidnapping. She states that with a life gone, she can now bring life to her child.On top of all this, the other girl is eventually shown to be the real culprit and Alice is totally exonerated. Exonerated? After all, she did snatch the second child.The film is definitely quite eerie in nature.

"They've taken a child thinking it's mine, why are you still sitting here asking questions?" After a young child is taken Detective Porter (Banks) begins to investigate two prime suspects Ronnie Fuller (Fanning) and Alice Manning. These two girls recently were released from juvenile prison for the kidnapping and murder of a small infant. All signs point to Ronnie but she insists she is innocent. It is up to Detective Porter to find the missing girl before it's too late. This is a difficult movie to review. I do have to admit that it was a good movie and the acting was great. The movie was very gripping and it made me want to keep watching to find out what was going to happen next. That said the movie is also very difficult to watch. There is nothing all that graphic, but the subject matter is very disturbing and parents of young children may struggle with this. All that said though this is a very good movie and fans of shows like Law and Order: SVU or movies like The Lovely Bones and Reclaim will like this one as well. Overall, a very good movie with a great story and acting but it is a little difficult to watch in parts. I give this a B.