“It’s my favorite film of the festival.” One of the most commonly spoken phrases at the film festival, this is also one of the most dangerous – especially if you’re only on Day 2. I try to refrain from throwing this bad boy down in conversation until at least Saturday or Sunday, but lo and behold, there I was yesterday tossing it around with the confident zeal of the newly religious. The object of my adoration? “The Secret in Their Eyes,” which I went in to optimistically – it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Picture this year – but with little anticipation of its heart and mind-melting impact. Let me go on record as saying I was woefully unprepared for the emotional suckerpunch this film delivers.

Still from “The Secret in Their Eyes”

“The Secret in Their Eyes” is a Spanish crime drama centered around Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin), a retired court investigator who decides to write a novel about a murder case from 25 years ago that still haunts him. A young newlywed woman was brutally raped and murdered, and Benjamin – along with his genius but alcoholic colleague Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella) and cautious superior Irene Hastings (Soledad Villamil) – becomes obsessed with finding her killer. The narrative cuts seamlessly between the present day, where Benjamin is trying to fictionalize the murder as a way to exorcise his demons, and the past, where the trio is working to find the murderer and bring him to justice.

This film works on so many levels, it’s difficult to even list them all. First is the taut crime mystery at the center of the narrative, which threads a tight wire of suspense throughout the entire film. As a refreshing relief to the suspense, the dialogue is snappy and wonderfully witty – for being such a gritty thriller, there are surprisingly as many laugh-out-loud moments as there are nailbiting sequences. There’s also a beautifully restrained love story spanning decades between two of the characters, and the brilliant use of a variety of cinematographic techniques ranging from the slow-motion parting of lovers on a train to a jerky, visceral handheld chase sequence. In particular, there is one tracking shot that swoops in from the sky over a mega soccer stadium all the way into the stands and up next to the characters’ faces that is breathtaking.

Layered in between all of these elements are haunting questions of regret, guilt, justice, revenge and love. The quiet sacrifice one character makes for another left most of the audience in sudden tears, and there are innumerable moments of bittersweet pathos and small revelations that will sock you in the gut. Most importantly, the script never feels cloying or contrived or manipulative. The plot unfolds gently and authentically, while still keeping you urgently in its grip. The 129 minutes fly by. What sealed the deal for me in terms of being able to call “The Secret in Their Eyes” the early frontrunner for my favorite film of the festival was that after the last beautiful closing shot, as the house lights came on, I went to stand up and realized my knees were shaking. When a film leaves a physical effect on you – that’s a good movie.

Luckily, the great thing about TCFF is that even when you have your world rocked by a film (no small feat these days), there’s an excellent chance at the festival that that will happen again (and again, and again) before the week is out. And it was true again yesterday, though in a different way, with the second film I saw: “The Infidel.” A world away in tone and story from “The Secret in Their Eyes,” “The Infidel” is a side-splitting, light-hearted tale about a Muslim man who discovers he’s adopted – and that his birth parents were Jewish. Mahmud (Omid Djalili) is hardly a radical Muslim to begin with – he swears and drinks and watches pop music videos with his teenage son – but the discovery of his Jewish heritage sends him into a tailspin as he tries to decide how to break the news to his Muslim family and community. Complicating matters is his son’s engagement to the step-daughter of an ultra-conservative, high-profile Muslim radicalist. Should Mahmud decide to “come out” as Jewish, the marriage would unquestionably be called off. As Mahmud explores his Jewish roots – with the hilarious help of a Jewish cabbie neighbor – he grapples with his identity and the knowledge that sooner or later, he must make a decision about who he is and share it with those around him.

Still from “The Infidel”

It’s a weird oversight in my cinematic programming that I tend to love foreign cinema for its thrillers and dramas and documentaries, but rarely think of it as a source of comedy. That is a very poor assumption on my part, as TCFF has proven time and again, because there’s some truly intelligent, hilarious stuff being made outside of America. Don’t get me wrong, I love Judd Apatow as much as the next American, but if you’re looking for humor that isn’t dumbed down or consists entirely of fart and sex jokes, go see some of the comedies playing at the film fest this week. “The Infidel” is a great place to start.