Cinco días sin Nora 2008

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Lujan, a veteran leading man now at an age when character roles more suit him, carries the film with a droll, understated bemusement. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Ms. Chenillo continually tries to lighten the mood with laughter, sometimes by underlining the differences between the unsmiling Orthodox Jewish and more freewheeling Christian interlopers. The comedy and tone both falter. Read more

Nick Schager, Time Out: It's a surprisingly understated movie that poignantly posits death as a therapeutic force for the living. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: An unexpectedly droll tale about a funeral, "Nora's Will" demonstrates the power of some people to reach beyond the grave. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: This is a very wise film, without any stench of didacticism: Through it all, the abiding power - like the strong force of an atomic bond - is not love exactly, but relationship, the net that wraps us all together and holds us fast. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The tone is tricky, sliding along a tightrope of farce and wistfulness, but Lujan especially walks it like a pro, his ruined leonine face registering cynicism, shock, and the embarrassment of grief. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Reader: Thanks to Lujan, it's very funny. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Chenillo doesn't have a galvanic visual style but her film is filled with small, observant moments when the humanity of these people peeps through the low-key shenanigans. It's a bittersweet farce. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's a sly, small film that shies away from too much gravity at all the right times. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A fantastic first feature from rising director Mariana Chenillo. Watch for her. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Though this is her first feature, writer-director Mariana Chenillo displays great sureness of touch behind the camera. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Nora's Will is the warm and funny feature debut of director-writer Mariana Chenillo. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: One of those modestly scaled foreign-language films destined to draw mature adult viewers who rarely go to the movies. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Lujan does what only the best actors can -- infusing the slightness not with actual substance but at least with the idea of substance, with a road map to where the writer could have located it. In Nora's Will, his performance points the way. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: In her feature film debut, Mexican writer/director Mariana Chenillo has woven a genuine charmer, tartly funny and irreverent yet warm and poignant, a testament to enduring love. Read more

Jay Weissberg, Variety: Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Throughout, writer/director Mariana Chenillo and Lujan carefully unwrap Jose's defensive postures to reveal a hard center of unresolved emotion, shown finally. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: When a loved one leaves us through suicide, Chenillo suggests, we're often left with unanswered questions. But Nora has taken pains to eliminate all mysteries. Read more