★★★½ Maria Full of Grace

[Gino: 3.5]

This was a solid 3.5 stars. I toyed with a 4.0. The story is about a Columbian teenage factory worker who is fed up with work but has resposibilities to her family. So she decides to become a mule and transport drugs (within her body) to New Jersey. The film never blows you away, but maintains an appropriate amount of tension (fairly high) throughout. I have great admiration for films that have a story to tell and don't overstep that and feel they need to have a love story and action sequences, etc. tacked on. It makes it feel more "real" to me. This one one of those films. The one exception is that Columbian women this pretty probably become actresses or models instead of factory workers or drug mules. I could be wrong. But that was the one thing that took me out of the story a little, even though the actress was quite good.