WHO MADE IT? | Director: Joshua Marston Cast: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Patricia Rae, Guilied Lopez | WHAT'S IT ABOUT? | Soon after she finds out she’s pregnant, Colombian country girl Maria (Moreno) dumps her loser boyfriend and quits her dead-end job, de-thorning roses in a sweat-shop of a warehouse. Without the money she was bringing in, her mother, sister and neices are destitute. She decides to head to the capital Bogota to seek a better job. A guy she meets at a disco hooks her up with a potential new employer. All she has to do is swallow dozens of pellets of cocaine and deliver them to a ruthless drugs gang in New York. But things don’t go to plan en route, and with few people to turn to in the big city, Maria is forced to reassess her whole life. | WHAT'S IT LIKE? | After Raising Victor Vargas and Real Women Have Curves, the latest low budget tale of young Hispanics in the US is as touching as its predecessors. But this one tackles much tougher material, with its young leads suffering the humiliation, indignity and violence of the lowest end of the drugs trade. Despite the raw nature of the subject matter, the film is surprisingly sensitive and warm and draws you in. Moreno’s Oscar-nominated turn is the film’s key asset: she steals every scene with her startling beauty and composure. Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, watch your backs. | MARIA FULL OF GRACE opens March 25 2005
