This was probably a great movie but i was lost from a social cultural perspective. Lead is gorgeous.

Excellent movie. The best foreign film I've ever seen. Thank you for this movie.

Real and tragic film about a young girl involved in an arranged marriage. She lives in a small place in Guatemala, near an active volcano, where most people are in the coffee bean business. She is in love with a fella and get's pregnant - a big problem when you are about to marry some other, older dude. It looks good, almost like a documentary at times, nice acting is to blame for this. A great story, with sick traditions and believings in focus and it's lifted with a superb and dramatic last 30 minutes - that added a lot to the film. 7.5 out of 10 bricks.

Between the childhood and adulthood. The director's feature film debut. From Guatemala, selected to represent the Oscars in the previous year (2016), but did not make. The film was based on the real about a small Mayan family living closer to the active volcano slope working in the coffee plantation. A perfect depiction of hardship of life, but from the perspective of a teenager. The life between adulthood and childhood, and for the lack of the knowledge of the real world, how they are misled was the film's purpose. I liked the film, no question about that. But it did not start like that. I hate films showing cruelty towards animals. It does not matter livestock, wild animals or anything else. The exception is only for the nature documentaries which does not involve human. So it all started with a strong dislike for the film. I was not sure I about writing a review for it. But the film convinced me with the later parts. I was not expecting it. In the end, I felt a very good film became a just above average because of one bad sequence. The film follows the character Maria. The seventeen year old girl was promised to the one who works in the city. But she wants to leave the place, country to the United States. That's when she begins to have her sexual urge. Following that, she develops a relationship with a boy from the coffee plantation. The consequence is the bigger price she has to face. With numerous challenges, not just her, but the whole family should overcome it. So how they are prepared for it and other following struggles revealed in the remaining narration. ?He's probably living in the United States in a big house with a garden, like those in the magazine. He must speak English by now.? The film highlights many things. One of those was how the poverty ridden, illiterate people are misguided. The indigenous Guatemalan people that showed in this film really amazed me. Okay, the girl made a mistake, but how her family reacted to it was a surprise to me. Being very cultured, I did not expect that. In fact, I thought it could turn into a thriller, particularly in its finale. But the entire film was a drama and finding a solution to solve the issue as the way it flows. Then comes the misconception which drags the family into more trouble. At that point of the narration, the film was close to the end. But an unexpected twist made its way. The part where desperation takes the front seat. With all the sudden, everything was resolved, but good or sad is to know, one must watch the film. Like the filmmaker, the casting was also new faces. The storyline seems simple, but where it sets in was the challenge the cast and crew excelled. The original title Ixcanul means volcano in Mayan language, but it is a force looking to explode is the correct definition, that's explained by the director. It is one of first Guatemalan films for me. I'm very impressed with the story, the performances, locations and the overall film. It is not just a film festival product, it is like any Hollywood or the rest of the world cinema that qualified to call a good film. So if you are watching lots of regular films and got bored, you can try this for a change. A different language, different setting, but a situation every culture, ethnic had seen, that now you can learn how it all confronted by these people. Just like the film 'Tanna', but not all the same. Excluding the opening part I complained about, this is a nice film to check it out. But I won't mention the word recommended! 7/10

Esta merece un Oscar

I lived in Panajachel, Guatemala when Ixcanul premiered. (I also had the pleasure of meeting the actors and the director at a local showing, as well as passing them in the street going about our day-to-day business.) Ixcanul is incredibly moving, both in conveying universal truths faced by young women coming of age, and in portraying the challenges faced by and strengths of the Mayan people themselves. It is a movie that will stay with anyone who watches it, and which decades from now, critics will still be recommending.

Inspirational and socially informative.

Complex and simple beauty in breathtaking scenery. Beautifully shot. Superb acting. Down to earth in a foreign way.

It seems that many viewers regard Maria as a victim of culture and poverty, which may be true but I disliked Maria because she cares about nobody but herself. Not everyone gets parents who love them unconditionally like Maria's parents do, but I suppose the only way to love Maria would be unconditionally because she does not give back. She would have left her folks behind in a flash if her plans had succeeded. The spirit woman was right to encourage her to do the snake walk because Maria has the soul of a serpent and should have succeeded in negotiating with them to leave the field, but no, she failed even at that, leaving her parents to fight for her life. The one hope I had for her character was that she seemed to care about the baby. Perhaps she is just a late bloomer for learning how to care. The film is beautifully and realistically filmed and performed, and the fact that the actors are Mayan and not career actors adds to the film's integrity. It held my interest all the way through. It is a very human story that transcends culture.

Ebert and the other reviewers totally missed what this movie is about. All the reviews I've read are about how the protagonaist, Maria, wants to be in the USA. That's not what the movie is about. The film uses the Mayan language and there is a problem with this family dealing with the authorities who speak Spanish. There is some small talk about going across the Volcano Ixcanul and the crossing Mexico to go to the USA but it's only a small part when Pepe talks about going to America. Maria stays with her family on the coffee plantation and becomes pregnant from Pepe who has left for El Norte. What happens is more than a hint of what happens to Maria and her baby. Don't want to be a pot spoiler but there is much, much more about the circumstances regarding Maria and her baby. A hint: Maria signs a "document" with her fingerpririt.

Even the pigs don't want sex without proper boozing.

Waste of an afternoon. I have spent a lot of time in latin America and Central America and this is a bad slow fairy tale.

Great to see Guatemalan director create a good movie. My only issue is the cinematography/ lense shoot of the movie could've been better, there were times where it was out of focus or the scenes just didn't look sharp but blurry.

http://www.clevelandmovieblog.com/2016/10/ixcanul-october-13th-and-16th-at.html

If I missed seeing this movie, it would have been okay. It is not a "You've got to see this film" type of movie.

Reveals the life of indigenous people in Guatemala as a culture unaware of the quality of life they live, unaware geographycaly of how far they are from living a life in USA they just know USA is just behind the volcano they call IXCANUL, in the poverty they live they know a bride should be made to look pretty on her wedding day and the mother getting her girl ready to be married is a beautiful scene very organic very Wabisabi If you will , sorry you have to google wabisabi to understand what I mea.

"Ixcanul" characterizes the average Kaqchikel Maya as a primitive, uneducated, drunk, highly sexualized modern-day step 'n fetch it who longs to leave Guatemala.

An understated and somberly devastating film, that has some of year's best cinematography.

Spellbinding and magical! Not to be missed!

Do not watch this overhyped glorification of savagery. Early scenes contain vivid depictions of animal cruelty. No warning.