Generically, Marshland at first could be mistaken for a straightforward police procedural in many senses, but the factor that grants it its real punch is its politics.

| Aug 25, 2018

In Marshland's case, a sense of humor would have made all the grim stuff - and there's a lot of it - easier to digest.

| Aug 21, 2018

It's a tight script whose classic cop-film pleasures hide unexpected nuance and empathy.

| Aug 6, 2018

The ending of La Isla Mnima is discouraging: the small triumph achieved by Pedro "the good guy" - through Juan "the bad guy" - means, in a way, a betrayal. The "new" Spain has been born buried into the past. (Review in spanish)

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 5, 2018

... the film advances with verve. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7.5/10 | Dec 13, 2017

It hits most of the right notes as a conventional crime thriller featuring the usual ne'er-do-wells... What deepens it into something more involving is the combination of time and place.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 21, 2017

Brilliant noir policier in a distinctive environment where the fraught political and economic circumstances hang over the solution to a shocking crime.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jun 17, 2016

Even if it stays true to the conventions of the crime drama, it dares to explore complicated themes of the political and social issues of the time its set on. [Full review in Spanish]

| Mar 16, 2016

Whilst its broad plot might be a touch too neat, Marshland manages to say quite a lot about entrenched neglect and ignorance both within and without systems of power

| Original Score: Recommended | Mar 3, 2016

While we're still pretending that True Detective season 2 didn't happen, we have Alberto Rodrguez's thriller Marshland to satisfy our yearning for moody detectives investigating a disturbing case that shakes their faith in humanity.

| Oct 29, 2015

Um filme que, sob a superfcie de suspense policial, constri um painel complexo de um pas lidando com feridas que jamais fecharam.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Oct 16, 2015

Marshland has superb performances and a heady atmosphere, but its greatest strength is finding resolution while letting the mystery be.

| Sep 25, 2015

The elegant widescreen compositions and use of light and shadows are strongly reminiscent of Seven and Zodiac, and the film's eerie, disconcerting mood brings to mind HBO's True Detective.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 20, 2015

Visually and atmospherically, Marshland is suffused with an eerie oppressiveness, entirely at odds with the region's reputation for light-hearted alegria.

| Aug 13, 2015

A couple of mismatched cops in the immediate post-Franco era investigate the brutal murders of two teenage girls in Alberto Rodriguez's satisfyingly atmospheric neo-noir.

| Aug 13, 2015

The swampy lowlands at the mouth of Spain's Guadalquivir River, as lensed by cinematographer Alex Catalan, help liberate the film from its genre moorings to produce a striking new form of Southern Gothic.

Full Review | Aug 13, 2015

WOW. Seriously, just WOW. This multi-award-winning drama from Spain ranks as one of the best films of 2015 from a multitude of angles.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 13, 2015

How far you enjoy Marshland will depend on your enthusiasm for the ritual of genre -- and, in particular, for the type of story where violence against women is mainly an excuse to probe the troubled souls of men.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 13, 2015

This gritty, very intense Spanish thriller has the feel of an Iberian True Detective.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 13, 2015

A visually striking noir thriller set against a backdrop of sex, drugs and political intrigue.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 13, 2015