Maria Full of Grace (2004)

Joshua Marston's dramatically potent Maria Full of Grace could easily have been a preachy issue film, but the filmmaker's eye and ear for authentic detail and believable characterization, the exquisite lead performance of Catalina Sandina Moreno (in her film debut), and the typically crisp, immediate handheld camerawork of genius cinematographer Jim Denault (Boys Don't Cry) make the film an unusually tough and gritty slice of underworld life. The horrific situation in which Maria finds herself stems organically from her steely temperament and her desperate, unfulfilled circumstances. Moreno's assured performance conveys both Maria's tough willfulness and her underlying uncertainty. Marston's film is at its strongest in focusing on the small, fascinating details of Maria's life, as she gives up demeaning sweatshop labor at a rose plantation to enter the drug trade. The scenes of heroin being processed and ingested for transport by Maria in her newfound occupation are darkly fascinating, as are the excruciatingly tense scenes that follow on the airplane, and at the airport after Maria arrives in New York. Some elements of the coming-of-age story are familiar, but Marston's attention to detail and the film's effective naturalistic presentation make it all very fresh and gripping. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide