With the eventual belated release in the UK  of this year's Oscar-winner for Foreign Film, The Secret in Their Eyes, all the contenders for that award have now been distributed in all the major territories. With headline films The White Ribbon and A Prophet receiving substantial coverage, there's no doubt what this limited crop of nominees tells us about the state of world cinema.

Its richer than 99.9% of the films flowing out of any English-speaking countries. And the prison drama of A Prophet, coupled with the legal thriller of The Secret in their Eyes, illustrate that it's not just a heap of "incomprehensible arthouse pretense", as one noted if borderline retarded reviewer in the US referred to most "Euro fare". 

The potent terror in most of mainstream and indie American film is the fear of ambiguity. Of leaving audiences with questions to ask at the end. It's not the curse of happy endings that are a problem alone - nought wrong with some joy. It's neatness for neatness sake that kills the aspiration of so much films coming from my fine nation.

So go see The Secret in their Eyes, which even on a second viewing, months after I first saw it stateside, stands up as mature, resonant and exciting drama. It's genre meets human realism without the need for simplification or deadening dull elongated storytelling.