Maria Full of Grace

A film by Joshua Marston

María Álvarez, a bright, spirited 17-year-old, lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia. Desperate to leave her job, María accepts a lucrative offer to transport packets of cocaine, which she must swallow, to the United States. Far from the uneventful trip she is promised, María is transported into the risky and ruthless world of international drug trafficking as she becomes entangled with both drug cartels and immigration officials.

Working in sweat shop-like conditions, stripping thorns from roses at a flower plantation, María's income helps support her family, including an unemployed older sister who is a single mother. But when she becomes pregnant by a man she does not love, and after unjust treatment from her supervisor, she quits work despite her family's vehement disapproval. On her way to Bogotá to find a new job, she is offered a position as a drug mule. Desperate, she accepts the risks and swallows 62 pellets of cocaine sealed with latex and dental floss and flies to New York City with her immature friend Blanca.

On arrival, María is interviewed by US customs who are suspicious of her movements but she avoids being X-rayed due to her pregnancy, and they ultimately believe her story that the father of her child paid for her air ticket. The traffickers collect María and several other mules and they are sequestered in a hotel room until they pass all the drug pellets. Fellow mule Lucy falls ill when a pellet apparently ruptures inside her and the traffickers cut her body open to retrieve the pellets she is carrying. When the traffickers leave to dump Lucy's body, María convinces Blanca to escape with her and they abscond with the drugs they have passed.

With nowhere to sleep, María goes to Lucy's sister's apartment but doesn't reveal to the sister that Lucy is dead. Soon Blanca joins her there but eventually the sister is told the truth and throws them out. Blanca and María return the drugs to the traffickers and receive their payment. María uses some of her drug money to send Lucy's body home to Colombia. Her mission having become one of determination and survival, she ultimately emerges with the grace that will carry her forward into a new life. Finally, at the airport, as she is about to board the plane with Blanca back to Colombia, María decides she must stay.

Focusing on a global economic system that promotes the exploitation of the poor, this well-crafted and very human drama is also an understated yet brutal depiction of a young girl's journey in learning to take responsibility. Joshua Marston's debut feature was the recipient of numerous international nominations and awards, including prizes at Sundance and Berlin International Film Festival.

Norwegian Wood

Noruwei no mori
a film by Tràn Anh Hung

Tokyo in the late 1960s. Students around the world are uniting to overthrow the establishment and Toru Watanabe is a quiet and serious young college student whose personal life is in tumult. After losing his best friend Kizuki when he inexplicably commits suicide, Watanabe becomes uncertain as to how he should view life, and as he looks for a new life, he enters university in Tokyo. By chance, during a walk in a park he meets Kizuki's ex-girlfriend Naoko and they grow close since they both share the same loss. At heart, Watanabe is deeply devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman. But as they grow even closer, their complex bond having been forged by the tragic death of their best friend, Naoko's sense of loss also grows.

After Naoko's 20th birthday, which she shares with Watanabe, she withdraws from the world and leaves for a sanatorium in the remote forested hills near Kyoto to regain some emotional stability. Watanabe is devastated by the situation, since he still has deep feelings for Naoko, but she is unable to reciprocate. He also lives with the influence of death everywhere, while Naoko feels as if some integral part of her has been permanently lost. He continues with his studies, and during the spring semester meets an attractive girl and fellow student Midori – outgoing, vivacious, supremely self-confident – who is everything that Naoko is not. Like Watanabe, Midori is in love with another, yet as they flirt with each other they are drawn together. As Naoko becomes increasingly unreachable, so Midori becomes increasingly available, but as Naoko's state of mind worsens Watanabe finds himself falling deeper in love with her. Torn between the two women in his life, Watanabe must also choose between his past and his future.

Adapted from Haruki Murakami's bestselling novel, published in 1987 and since translated into 33 languages, Norwegian Wood is a sensitive and deeply moving story of adolescent love, loss, heartbreak and mental illness, set in a time of global instability. A tender, visually exquisite film with beautiful cinematography and superb performances, featuring soundtrack music by Can and score by Jonny Greenwood.