EVERY SECRET THING: MORE MISSING CHILDREN

I always find it odd when a plethora of movies with similar themes all come out at the same time. I know movies take time to get financed and produced but it still seems strange. With CHILD 44 released a few weeks back and STRANGERLAND out the same week as this title maybe we could lay off missing children for a while now. Doubtful but let’s hope.

The movie begins years in the past with Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller, two young girls forced into a non-existent friendship by Alice’s mother Helen (Diane Lane). Sent to a party the backward and poor Ronnie lashes out at the party’s host and the girls are sent home. Along the way they hear a baby crying from the front porch of a house and take the baby with them. When the child is later found dead, the girls are sent away to juvenile prison.

Now after time served and reaching their 18^th birthdays, the girls have been released. Alice (Danielle Macdonald) has returned to her mother’s home. Each day she sets out in search of work as Helen continues to support her but nudges her to find a job. Ronnie (Dakota Fanning), on the other hand, is working at a nearby bakery. While Alice seems content with her life now Ronnie seems troubled. Heavy on the make-up and sporting a chip on her shoulder attitude, she’s moving through life but with no direction.

Then it happens. Another baby comes up missing. And with a push from the mother of the child the two girls killed years ago, the police come calling with the girls as the most obvious suspects. Detective Nancy Porter (Elizabeth Banks) was the officer who found the first girl and is still troubled by all aspects of that case. Detective Kevin Jones (Nate Parker) is more inclined to believe that the boyfriend of the new missing child’s mother could be involved. Between the two of them a search for the truth and the missing child brings them together to search all possibilities.

What makes the movie interesting is the lives of the two girls and how they slowly are revealed to us as the investigation and search for the new missing child takes place. A combination of flashbacks and current events helps us to see who these two girls are and what might motivate them (or not) to do what they did so long ago. That is if they actually did it. At times the flashbacks make us wonder if it wasn’t one as opposed to both who were responsible for the death of that child.

The movie progresses along nicely and brings all of the characters together at different times before providing the solution to the problem at hand. No one was left unscarred by the tragic events of the past. Those wounds led to some serious secrets that are uncovered as the movie moves forward. And until the end not all will be revealed. In the end everyone develops new wounds and the secrets that were kept will have a lasting effect on everyone.

Well written, well directed and well-acted this movie will keep you guessing from start to finish. At times you’ll think you know what happened when a new clue or moment presents itself to have you guessing all over again. The simple solution seems readily apparent and then a twist makes you think your original guess completely wrong. Then something else happens and you consider that maybe you were right the first time. That’s the sign of a good mystery. Agatha Christie would be proud.

While you would think the stand out performances here would be the two girls in fact the ones that stand out are Lane and Banks. This is not discrediting the performances of Macdonald and Fanning who do a great job here, but the subtle moments of discomfort Lane displays and the troubled officer Banks offers are both a joy to behold. Both are actresses deserving of bigger films.

With the tons of serial killers, rapists and one shot murderers seen on TV these days my guess is little will be considered shocking here. Yes a child has been killed but fortunately for us the director and writer determined that to witness that murder was something we didn’t need to see. We already know it’s a terrible thing to have happened. But along with that murder are several other secret things that are just as troubling. This one is worth watching.

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