56
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxAn intriguing, if flawed mystery set in the shadowy subterranean world of undocumented Mexican immigrants.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoZalla constructs a suspenseful movie with no intention of sugarcoating the daily hardships of New York's underclass.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe film is built around two relationships, both touching, both emotionally true.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasIntricately and imaginatively structured, building to a powerful climax of complex irony.
- 60Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanThe result is contrived, but compelling--as is the movie's high-powered humanism.
- 58The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe film seems even more one-note when compared to the recent indie feature "Chop Shop," which also follows young immigrant hustlers in NYC, yet takes the time to provide a fuller picture of the city and its opportunities. Zalla prefers to wallow in the dead-end, an approach that's initially powerful, then numbing.
- 50New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinZalla, a graduate of Columbia's film school, is talented and single-minded. He needs to lighten up, literally. He frames his characters to bring out all their sweaty desperation, and his palette is dark with splashes of muddy brown; even the street scenes look as if they were shot in a dungeon.
- 40VarietyRobert KoehlerVarietyRobert KoehlerOchoa is such a masterful actor that he makes things fairly interesting despite the script, with Hernandez and Espindola well-cast as two young men operating by different moral compasses.
- 40The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenAlthough it exhibits a heartfelt connection with the city's half-invisible population of illegal immigrants, its myriad inconsistencies and strained plotting are increasingly frustrating.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThe movie shows the city as both an intimidating and enticing place for new arrivals, but ultimately gets bogged down in the cliched split destinies and intentions of its main characters.