A Mule's Tale

One of the main reasons Filmbrain has little use for most contemporary Hollywood (and to a certain extent indie) output is their complete lack of concern for character development. Their world is all about high concept -- a talking pie, a businessman who swaps souls with a twelve year-old girl, Bruce Willis, etc. Too often in these films, characters do things in the final reel that are in no way justified by their behavior for the previous seventy minutes or so. Filmbrain has experienced this in all genres -- the action film, the comedy, the drama -- full of talking 'things' who have not had any proper development and whose outcomes are either completely unbelievable or such that you no longer care about them and their actions -- they are simply devices to move the plot along to the next big set piece. As a screenwriter, this is particularly annoying for obvious reasons. (Let's not even get started on the sad state of dialog in Hollywood today.) Every so often a small film comes round that just gets it right. Joshua Marston's Maria Full of Grace is one of them. This story of a seventeen year-old girl from Columbia who decides to become a mule (smuggling drugs inside her stomach) is an excellent example of a perfectly constructed screenplay. (Marston has said in interviews that he worked on it for several years -- and it shows.) This is not a film that's going to change the world, win loads of awards or start a cinematic trend -- but it should be required viewing for aspiring screenwriters/filmmakers. The decision to place copious amounts of heroin inside of your body is clearly not an easy one. Besides the incredible risk of being caught, the risk of death is quite high. Marston does a wonderful job in the first act showing (not telling) us so much of Maria's character, that her later motivations and actions are not only justified, but understood. In an early scene, Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is shown kissing her boyfriend, but her eye is wandering -- to what, we're not sure. Wanting to make love, her boyfriend suggests going to her place, but Maria would rather climb with him to the roof of a decaying building. His threats and protestations do nothing to sway her -- her resolve is stronger than his machismo. There are many such scenes in the early part of the film that result in our knowing so much about her, that it makes the remainder of the film not only more believable, but creates an emotional attachment to the character. (The same can be said for the two other women who become mules -- their development is equally as impressive.) The second act -- the journey to New York with the drugs -- is filled with amazing tension, yet avoids the trap of over-doing it. The pace of the film doesn't unnaturally pick up, the cuts don't get shorter, and there's no ominous music track to remind us that there's tension. The entire sequence is handled in a manner one rarely finds in such a junior talent. The final third is set in NYC, mostly in the Columbian section of Queens, and it's an interesting counterpart to the first third. Though a stranger in a strange land, Maria is quick-witted, intelligent, and empathetic enough to figure out how to deal with the various characters she comes across. (Especially when compared to her friend and fellow mule Blanca.) Maria's focus is such that being in New York City barely even registers with her. There's no ooh-ing and ah-ing about the big city, nor any shots of her staring up at skyscrapers -- that's not relevant. Not only is she trying to find a solution to a problem that arises with the drugs, she's at the same time dealing with a very important issue in her own life, and every decision she makes must take another life into consideration. Though the ending might be a tad idealistic, its optimism isn't forced (too often the case) nor does it seem reworked based on test screening results from Sheboygan. At the moment the film has limited distribution (Fine Line was concerned that many people wouldn't want to read subtitles.) But if the sold-out crowds at both Manhattan theaters are any indicators, this will go wide(r) shortly. See it if you can.