With not a pimp in sight, no mention of people-trafficking, and a single token drug-addict, this Spanish prostitution drama is serenely old-fashioned.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 28, 2007

The film has inspirational messages about the rewards of multicultural integration, but its tacit approval of prostitution as a rewarding career choice seems a bit peculiar.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 28, 2007

Compelling, frequently funny and, commendably, resists wrapping things up sentimentally. Nice Manu Chao soundtrack, too.

| Dec 28, 2007

Despite the difficult subject matter, there is colour and energy to the storytelling that betrays a diehard optimism and is vaguely reminiscent of Pedro Almodovar's films. Aranoa keeps a loose, fluid feel to the action and ups the tempo with music.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 25, 2007

Aranoa sketches a melancholy based on accurate human observation.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 27, 2006

While Princesas offers sensitive and beautifully wrought performances by its two leads (Candela Pena and Micaela Nevarez, who each won Goya Awards), the film offers little new in way of substance or theme.

Full Review | Sep 7, 2006

Writer-director Fernando Len de Aranoa embraces a pair of Madrid streetwalkers with such affection and compassion that their story, even though prostitutes are a staple of the movies, actually seems fresh and distinctive.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 1, 2006

Fernando Leon de Aranoa confirms his Loach-like ability to convert marginalized subjects into socially committed cinema.

| Aug 25, 2006

In Princesas, [writer-director Fernando Len de Aranoa] leaves too many loose ends hanging about, but his sentiments are noble.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 25, 2006

Women become prostitutes for different reasons, and the reasons driving the main characters in Spanish writer-director Fernando Len de Aranoa's earnest tale of friendship couldn't be more different.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 25, 2006

It's well-acted and strikingly shot, but it never quite reconciles its high-drama situations with its low-key approach.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Aug 25, 2006

The way that Aranoa so clearly venerates his lively women feels Almodvar-esque, but the movie aims most of all to suggest that hookerdom is hell -- and it's neither realistic nor unsentimental enough to pull that off.

| Original Score: C+ | Aug 23, 2006

Princesas starts as a serious examination of the two women's lives, but it descends into a mushy melodrama complete with schmaltzy music and dewy cinematography.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 23, 2006

This maudlin melodrama about prostitutes in Madrid is not, alas, the new film by Pedro Almódovar, but a dilution of his manner by the writer-director Fernando León de Aranoa.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 22, 2006

De Aranoa never condescends to his subjects, and Caye's mixture of aggression and tenderness is appealingly authentic. Could this be the first film to use a cell phone ringtone to devastating emotional effect?

| Aug 22, 2006

Another depiction of flesh trade hardships told with a mixture of somewhat disingenuously restrained grittiness, bittersweet pathos, and little of the depth that might help it stand out from the increasingly crowded prostitution-cinema pack.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 11, 2006