For most of its running time, it's a bit of a slog. To some degree, it's a rewarding slog, and yet even then, not entirely.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 28, 2016

What these kids endure could easily read as melodrama on the page, but the movie - with its shaky camera work and amateur cast, including extras who were actual migrants - maintains a stark realism.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 10, 2015

"La Jaula de Oro" may seem like a rehash of old news. But don't be deceived.

| Sep 3, 2015

The filmmaking is fluid and electric; the acting, precise; the archetypal storytelling, seamless and brutal.

| Sep 3, 2015

Adding a welcome dynamism to the unobtrusive silent-witness storytelling approach so much in vogue on the international art-cinema scene, Quemada-Diez assembles "La jaula de oro" out of moments rich in action, humor and intrigue.

| Sep 1, 2015

[The film] has an undeniable ring of truth.

Full Review | Sep 1, 2015

Through little dialogue, mostly improvised by the nonprofessional cast, Quemada-Dez creates much compassion toward his young travelers and the emotional truths they uncover.

| Aug 27, 2015

Quemada-Diez's approach emphasizes nature and naturalism, and the film never pretends that this adventure isn't dangerous and terrifying.

| Aug 25, 2015

An assured and moving debut by director Diego Quemada-Dez.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 7, 2014

At once urgent, defiant, and heartbreaking.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 29, 2014

If you want screen teens to break your heart this summer, then give The Fault in Our Stars a miss in favour of this epic South American adventure.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 27, 2014

It works equally well as a Huckleberry Finn-like adventure story and as a brutal realist drama highlighting the exploitation of young migrants.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 27, 2014

Quemada-Dez loves his characters and is enthusiastic in coaxing joy from their prematurely aged and scowling faces but he doesn't soft-pedal their fates.

| Jun 26, 2014

The performances are tremendous.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 26, 2014

Guatemalan teens attempt to break into the US a film which offers little new both politically and aesthetically.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 26, 2014

Quemada-Diez worked on three Ken Loach films, starting with Land and Freedom in the Spaniard's home country. The apprentice's own first act of sorcery is simple and compelling.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 26, 2014

Director Diego Quemada-Dez condenses many acute observations about life as an emigrant into a sure-footed, credible story.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 24, 2014

A tough yet tender and beautifully crafted human drama that more than earns those Loach comparisons.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 23, 2014

It is a very substantial movie, with great compassion and urgency.

| May 23, 2013

A lukewarm examination of a hot-potato political issue.

| May 23, 2013