Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem,
Ricardo Darin
"Who did iT??"
Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) presents a crime drama in the Spanish language with real life couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in the lead roles. A tale of secrets and revelations + all the necessary ingredients of a whodunit saga.
Laura (Penelope Cruz) living in Buenos Aires returns to her hometown near Madrid with her two children to attend the wedding of her sister, Ana. It is a typical small Spanish town where everybody knows of each other. A town rife with intriguing whispers and gossips which is a typical mentality among the local folks. On the night of the wedding, Irene the teenage daughter of Laura goes missing.
Frantic and panicking, Laura is distraught and seeks the help of the family's close friend, Paco (her former childhood sweetheart) who is now married to Bea, a teacher. She also contacts her husband, Alejandro (Ricardo Darin) in Argentina to inform him about the abduction. The entire family is drawn into this disturbing incident and try to come up with answers without causing a scene as Laura is told not to inform the police.
Mostly shot in dark tones with night scenes and dimly lit rooms, Everybody Knows runs like a typical Spanish telenovela, except this is a full length film. Multiple characters, most of them Laura's extended family make up the cast composed of top actors and actresses in the Spanish film industry. Headed by Penelope Cruz who gives Laura, much depth. She just gets better as she ages like fine wine. Javier Bardem as Paco is credible. He nails the characterization of a conflicted yet well meaning person with gusto. Ricardo Darin as Alejandro is more subdued as his character is dealing with her personal demons.
The revelation of closely guarded secrets, the intriguing nature of the disappearance all played out well in the narrative. But the quick 'resolution' of the main crisis in the plot seemed forced. It felt like Farhadi did not thoroughly think this part through so he snapped his fingers and decided it needed to end, just like that. Nope it has nothing to do with being lost in the translation, I have watched enough Spanish movies to be more or less familiar with the language. It is a watchable crime drama as the cast perform well but the strained plot change and the contrived ending are burdensome.
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