Under the Same Moon

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The film says that the U.S. immigrant situation is untenable, but then it forces US to ask: What should be done?

TV Guide Ken Fox

It's an unexpectedly powerful little film that manages to say a lot of what, despite all the talk on the subject, isn't being said in the national debate on immigration.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Thanks to the uncommonly shrewd judgment of screenwriter Ligiah Villalobos and director Patricia Riggen, both newcomers, the film never feels like rank exploitation, even as it steadily aims for the emotional jugular.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A powerful and evocative account of the efforts undertaken to forge a perilous mother-and-child reunion. Told in Spanish with English subtitles, it is a moving tale of yearning, as well as unflagging courage and determination.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Although based on a fictional story, it has the feel of truth and is a vivid reminder of the hell Mexicans put themselves through to live in the United States, even illegally.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Instead of delivering a pointed statement, this timely and energetic crowd-pleaser aims for -- and accomplishes -- something much more difficult: It makes you fall in love with its characters.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The strong final third counterbalances the weaknesses of the first half. I prefer films that build to something worthwhile rather than collapse short of the finish line.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The result is a genuinely cathartic night at the movies - which is one of the reasons we go to them in the first place. Art it ain't, but popcorn is rarely this skilled or seductive.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It takes place on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border, and it offers an undeniable argument that life without love is unpalatable on either side.

Portland Oregonian Grant Butler

First-time director Patricia Riggen uses parallel story lines to tell the mother's and son's tales...It's a storytelling technique that's meant to emphasize how mother and son are utterly unaware of the other's struggles, but instead it robs the plot of tension, making the inevitable reunion seem schmaltzy.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The filmmakers are smart enough – or cynical enough – to realize that we don't watch movies like Under the Same Moon in order to be surprised. We go to them for a good cry.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Its parallel stories of two lost souls seeking each other across geographical divides is never more than one small step away from mawkishness and cliché, and oftentimes less.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

How do you say "tearjerker" in Spanish?

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Accomplished and well-intentioned to the extent that one wants to accentuate the positive, but the positive isn't the whole, alas; for every moment in the film that evokes classic neo-realism, there's another that's commonplace or overly sentimental.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

An estimated 4 million Latinas leave one or more children behind when they travel north to find work. They deserve a more nuanced film, but this one’s often affecting.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

If Under the Same Moon is formula melodrama, the film is well acted and its lead character perceptively drawn.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

A harmless feel-good movie that tries to tell audiences what it's like to be a victimized immigrant, and mostly winds up telling them what it's like to have their heartstrings yanked, gratuitiously and often.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

For all the clumsy scenes and cloying performances, director Patricia Riggen puts her adults through tough choices and hard consequences.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Under the Same Moon comes most vividly to life when Adrian Alonso is on the screen.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

This largely Spanish-language film brings on the waterworks because its core story is undeniably affecting. The whole movie, however, would be more convincing if the elements around that vital core were more multidimensional and less contrived.

Variety Justin Chang

Wrapping the political hot potato of illegal immigration in the sentimental balm of a mother-son reunion drama, this stirring tale will be embraced most enthusiastically by Mexican audiences on both sides of the border.

Village Voice Michelle Orange

The duo's travels never gain a traction of their own, and the film's destination feels overdetermined despite its sweetness.

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

This is screenwriting by numbers. Unlike, say, Ken Loach’s marvelous “Bread and Roses,” Under the Same Moon is too busy sanctifying its protagonists and prodding our tear ducts to say anything remotely novel about immigration policies or their helpless victims.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Your enjoyment of this picaresque tearjerker may depend on how much you can tolerate its shameless contrivances and didactic social realism, whereby the story exists only to illustrate the plight of illegal aliens. I was ultimately more moved than appalled, but it was a close contest.