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72
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|
Crónicas
Palm Pictures
MPAA RATING: R for violence, a scene of sexuality, and language
Starring
Damián Alcázar,
John Leguizamo,
Gloria Leyton,
Alfred Molina,
Leonor Watling,
and
José María Yazpik
A gripping crime drama starring John Leguizamo as Manolo Bonilla, a star reporter for a Miami-based tabloid TV show, who is determined to unearth a serial killer in a small town in Ecuador. (Palm Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
Foreign
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Sebastián Cordero
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Sebastián Cordero
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 8, 2005
Theatrical: July 8, 2005
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
108 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Mexico / Ecuador |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Spanish (with English subtitles) |
Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema - Dramatic), 2005 Sundance Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
Chicago Tribune
Achy Obejas
This is an all-Latino film--a rarity and a pleasure--but what's most curious and refreshing is that Cordero allows the Latinos to naturally embrace their nationalities, accents and cultural peculiarities.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A taut, tricky thriller.

83
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Even as the film sometimes veers into unproductive sidebars, there's a masterful tension to it, Alcazar is wonderful, and the final shot is a stunner.

80
LA Weekly
F. X. Feeney
Writer-director Sebastian Cordero wrings nerve-racking suspense, and complex performances, from these dynamics.

80
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
A crackling good suspense thriller.

80
Chicago Reader
Joshua Katzman
The ironic twist at the conclusion of this chilling drama underscores the vagaries of human nature--and of the media.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
G. Allen Johnson
Cronicas has a cracking good plot, a central moral issue and John Leguizamo speaking Spanish. What more does a film need?

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The kind of movie that grabs you while you're watching, even if later you wish it had grabbed a little harder.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
The hit-and-run destructiveness of the rapacious media is nothing new, but Cordero gives his cynical take a unique setting and a queasy climax.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
With considerable passion and more than a little anger, Cronicas argues that our appetite for an increasing coarse and sensational type of news programming has skewed our inner compasses.

75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
A raw and powerful suspense thriller.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The film begins strongly and violently, then simmers down to a standard-issue suspense story.

75
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The moral murk of Crónicas would be more effective if the story weren't so contrived, yet the movie is worth seeing for Leguizamo's sinewy urgency, Alcázar's desperate cleverness as the killer, and the squalid, frantic atmosphere of Latin American hunger.

70
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Despite all that South American sunshine, this lean and brilliantly constructed thriller is a dark realm of secrets and lies, illuminated by TV lighting and the glitter of John Leguizamo's eyes. Those in search of life-affirming family entertainment might want to stick with Ingmar Bergman.

70
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
The result is reasonably absorbing and a provocative if familiar commentary on media manipulation, with Leguizamo terrific in a serious, intense performance.

63
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The movie suffers from tipping its hand too easily and hating its subject so much.

60
Film Threat
Jeremy Mathews
Sometimes goes a bit over the top to make its point.

60
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
John Leguizamo, in a rare watchable performance.

60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Tasha Robinson
It's daring and it's different.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
What distinguishes Cordero's film is his use of location.

60
Variety
David Rooney
Starts out bracingly but gradually loses focus. Ecuadorian writer-director Sebastian Cordero's screenplay trades in underdeveloped conflicts and blank characters, hinting far too early at the killer's probable identity.

60
Village Voice
Peter L'Official
Leguizamo finds the right mute for his trumpet, modulating his expenditure of emotion to the requirements of the scenario rather than overengaging his capable Mambo Mouth.

50
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
A film divided against itself. The more the cat-and-mouse game between prisoner and reporter points it in the direction of "The Silence of the Lambs," the closer it inches toward the sort of exploitation it condemns; for me, that's too close for Crónicas to be taken without a big grain of salt.

50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Like its protagonist, Cordero's film is a nimble thing, darting from hot-button topic to prison-cell metaphysics in the blink of a blind eye, but it never quite achieves the level of journalistic condemnation it so clearly seeks.

50
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Although it's often difficult to discern amid a schematic plot and overheated, sanctimonious denouement, an undeniable reality underlies Cronicas.

50
Boston Globe
Janice Page
For a movie about serial killings and media sensationalism, Cronicas sure is wimpy.

25
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Scathing indictment of the tabloid media! Film at 11! That's how Crónicas sees itself, but all I could see was a scathing indictment of writer-director Sebastian Cordero's ability to put together a credible story.


The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
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