Maria Full of Grace

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Disturbing. It is impossible to sit through Maria Full of Grace and not be affected by the circumstances of the characters. For that, the credit must go to Marston and his actors.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Unfolds with a simplicity that's as breathtaking as its inevitability is harrowing.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Timely, pointed messages about oppression and opportunity come poignantly through in strongly dramatic terms.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

In its vitality and finesse, Maria Full of Grace is all of a piece -- and both artistically and spiritually itself full of grace.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Sustains a documentary authenticity that is as astonishing as it is offhand. Even when you're on the edge of your seat, it never sacrifices a calm, clear-sighted humanity for the sake of melodrama or cheap moralizing.

The New Yorker David Denby

Marston would probably have made an interesting movie no matter how he had shot it, but the way he dramatized the material seems instinctively right: he goes detail by detail, emotion by emotion, eliding nothing, exaggerating nothing.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Moreno, with her wide, watchful eyes, owns the camera - and the film. Her performance is perfectly natural and profoundly moving. Maria Full of Grace is a remarkable picture, full of suspense and discovery.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A story that rips fleshy holes through your heart.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

A revelatory independent film whose moments of incredible sadness are offset by the same state of grace that blesses its astonishing title character.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Leah McLaren

A fantastic film.

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

Astonishes on many levels.

Newsweek David Ansen

The movie puts us in Maria's shoes, taking us step by suspenseful step through her physical and spiritual ordeal.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A gripping, deeply moving film

Time Richard Schickel

What we come to care most about in writer-director Joshua Marston's film is how his heroine achieves the state promised by his title, Maria Full of Grace. Our emotional investment in her derives primarily from the astonishing performance of Moreno, 23.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A remarkable -- and harrowing -- debut feature that makes you think there's hope after all for the future of independent films.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The movie is thrillingly subjective, teeming with the fullness of everyday proletarian life that one finds in the work of the directors who most influenced Marston in the making of this movie: Hector Babenco and the Brazilian realists, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

This may be the first film to examine the intricacies of the Colombia-to-U.S. drug route in any detail.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The true heartbreak of Maria Full of Grace is that it never comes.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie has the freshness and urgency of life actually happening.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Has a power that doesn't announce itself until it's over: You leave not wanting to give up on life, just resentful of the world we live in.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Takes a simple story and molds it into something eloquent and menacing.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Gracefully acted, and the story packs a powerful punch straight to the gut.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

More than a ripped-from-the- headlines drug drama, Maria Full of Grace is like a horror movie made real.

Premiere Peter Debruge

In his first feature, director Joshua Marston passes no judgments. He doesn't condemn drugs. He merely depicts the system that has arisen to support this illicit trade.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Marston doesn't develop the characters, except for the strong-willed and quick-witted Maria.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

It's a remarkably assured and humane feature debut.

Film Threat KJ Doughton

Isn’t really about drugs. It’s about what motivates people to make hard choices. However, deciding whether or not to view this unique glimpse into a seldom seen world should be easy. It’s a must-see.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The depiction of her risky voyage and what happens afterward is highly suspenseful and entirely believable.

Slate David Edelstein

The whole movie, of course, is a setting for its jewel, Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria: With her clear, round eyes, long dark hair, and radiant transparency, she brings to mind two of the loveliest ingénues of the last quarter-century -- Meg Tilly and Jennifer Connelly.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

The film's only misstep is its again-used theme (especially when it comes to a woman's rite of passage) of exacting some punishing loss when our heroine pushes to transcend her limitations by seeking a better life.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Marston builds incredible tension. But it's the human drama etched on Moreno's young, weary face that gives Maria its potent punch.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Accomplishes two great things on what was undoubtedly a minuscule budget. It breathes life into a small story that has larger ramifications. It also shows that America, as represented by Jackson Heights, is still the promised land for people about whom movies are rarely made.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Shot in the style of a documentary, which lends the movie an aura of utter realism, Maria Full of Grace derives an unsettling power from the clinical details of Maria's ordeal.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Moreno's subtly calibrated mix of intelligence, naivete, rebelliousness, charisma and practicality produces an unforgettable protagonist; even Maria's recklessness seems reasonable because it's so clearly rooted in desperation.

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

Ultimately, the ending is a bit of a cop-out, but that's a small criticism for a film with such decent perspectives.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Grim but never gratuitous.

Variety David Rooney

Writer-director Joshua Marston's strikingly confident debut maintains an unblinking focus and sustains an almost unbearable level of tension.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Be forewarned: Scenes of the protagonist learning to swallow the drug pellets will make many viewers queasy. Rarely has the power of suggestion been so unsettling.

Empire Angie Errigo

Not for anyone with a sensitive gag reflex. Joshua Marston provides a harrowing depiction of drug- muling for dummies. The raw, revolting, dangerous details of such an undertaking are graphic.