Sayra, a Honduran teen, hungers for a better life. Her chance for one comes when she is reunited with her long-estranged father, who intends to emigrate to Mexico and then enter the United States. Sayra's life collides with a pair of Mexican gangmembers who have boarded the same American-bound train.
Intense Spanish-language feature debut intrigues but doesn't quite gel.
– Justin Lowe,
Hollywood Reporter,
17 Apr 2009
fresh:
Fukunaga paints better outside the lines, working with cinematographer Adriano Goldman to offer vivid shots of the poverty and despair cutting through Latin America.
– Scott Tobias,
AV Club,
1 May 2009
fresh:
Sin Nombre is pure filmmaking: a great story told in beautiful images.
– Dan Zak,
Washington Post,
7 May 2009
fresh:
The actors, particularly Flores, have a documentary reality about them. Their reactions to most of their predicaments, even the ones given away too easily by the script, are real in the most human sense.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
13 May 2009
fresh:
It's a tribute to the visceral impact of the staging that the film retains its grip despite becoming somewhat predictable, while thematically it's the usual cycle-of-violence hand wringing.