Miss Bala 2011

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: An urgent dispatch from the sidelines of the drug war that consumes our southern neighbor. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Gerardo Naranjo may have made the least-glamorous movie ever about a pageant queen with "Miss Bala." Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Maybe the film doesn't add up to quite as much as its talented director, Gerardo Naranjo, seems to have hoped, but it is tense and propulsive. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Sigman's performance is, literally, the film. Read more

New York Times: Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: It's an adventure story that could be called a contemporary picaresque if it weren't so deadly serious, and might be called fantastical if it weren't loosely based on a true story of a former Miss Hispanic America. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: There's a wild, Miami Blues-like dreaminess to the movie that's addictive. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: "Miss Bala" is a portrait of a young woman who is at once terribly vulnerable and improbably brave. It's equally a vision of a vulnerable society on the road to anarchy. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Though it toes a delicate line between exploitation movie and movie about exploitation, that's part of what gives the film its charge. Read more

Loren King, Boston Globe: Naranjo offers a grim subject with neither flash nor sentiment. It is a sober film done with style. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Mexico's 2012 submission for Best Foreign Language Film - rightfully so. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: The film's pace races through events in a chain of escalating violence, tension, smoke and gunfire. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: There is a larger message to be found here, but it never derails the taut vintage thriller that's been constructed. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "Miss Bala" can't quite engage. It fires at the target. It makes a lot of noise. But it never quite hits the bull's eye. Read more

John Powers, NPR: While it may not tell the whole story of Mexican life, it clearly captures a truth nobody can deny. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: [A] well-shot, bluntly propulsive thriller... Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: This strange and eerie noir is more a collection of knockout scenes than a fully realized story. Read more

Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Inquirer: Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Miss Bala is full of virtuoso single-take tracking shots and over-the-shoulder perspectives that effectively convey a sense of menace and momentum. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Miss Bala is a terrifying tale of a beauty contest that ends in horror... The film is a harrowing experience. It cuts deep. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: In the vision of this ruthless and abundantly talented young director, life in Tijuana isn't merely as bad as you think. It's worse. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: An always violent, often surreal ride through the thickets of widespread corruption, with the audience sometimes left as confused and disoriented as the poor girl. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: All the more disarming for the fact that it takes place in a society where politics appears redundant and money and power are gained through violent, minutely orchestrated coups. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Naranjo is unflinching in his determination not to serve up mindless entertainment. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: With the blistering firecracker that is Miss Bala, next-gen Mexican director and AFI grad Gerardo Naranjo delivers on the promise of such well-respected early pics as Drama/Mex and I'm Gonna Explode. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: Miss Bala is a work of impressionistic reportage, built out of artfully crammed widescreen compositions and bravura long tracking shots. Read more