My favorite film of 2010. This acclaimed Spanish film has it all: An unsolved murder which unfolds slowly, a unique love story, an exploration of revenge.

A startling discovery comes to light for retired Argentine criminal investigator Benjamín Espósito (Ricardo Darín) as he pens a biographical novel about the unsolved case of a young newlywed’s brutal rape and murder years ago. Past and present intertwine for Espósito and colleague Irene Menéndez Hastings (Soledad Villamil) in director Juan José Campanella’s Oscar-winning character study in which justice, pain and love collide. In Spanish with English subtitles. Rated R for a rape scene, violent images, some graphic nudity and language.

Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert: Juan Jose Campanella is the writer-director, and here is a man who creates a complete, engrossing, lovingly crafted film. He is filled with his stories. The Secret in Their Eyes is a rebuke to formula screenplays. We grow to know the characters, and the story pays due respect to their complexities and needs.

Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips: What are the odds that the year’s most compelling mystery would end up hanging its hat on the year’s richest love story

The New Yorker, David Denby: It’s powerfully and richly imagined: a genre-busting movie that successfully combines the utmost in romanticism with the utmost in realism.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Rick Groen: The wonder is that the film balances its many genres, from the thorns of murder to the bloom of romance to the thickets of politics, with such easy grace.

Charlotte Observer, Lawrence Toppman: To call it a masterpiece is premature: That’s a title to be earned only in retrospect. But I’ve seen it twice now and can’t imagine what I would change. It fits together tightly as a suspenseful puzzle, yet it’s also emotionally rewarding and sardonically funny.