Sin Nombre

Sayra (Paulina Gaytan), a beautiful young Honduran woman, journeys north through central America with her father and uncle in the hope of escaping to a better life in the USA. While travelling, she joins forces with El Casper (Edgar Flores), who is trying to escape his violent past with a Mexican gang.

Wendy Ide, the Times: To say that this brutal, brilliant film about Central American migrants travelling through Mexico doesn't pull its punches is an understatement. The first 20 minutes are truly harrowing - our initiation into the take-no-prisoners gang culture of the Mara Salvatrucha leaves the viewer as battered as the gang’s victims. (Verdict: four stars out of five)

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: It all looks so punishingly real that you have to remind yourself you're not watching a documentary but a nerve-jangling drama, one assembled with an astute eye for sweeping vistas and edgy intimacy. American-born writer-director Cary Joji Fukunaga actually rode the very same trains, and it's the you-are-there recreation of that dangerous milieu which is the essential thing we take away from this promising debut. (Verdict: three stars out of five)

Catherine Shoard, the Guardian: Hollywood's honeyed glow still hangs heavy over proceedings - hence the terrifying body-art sported by the main baddie, while our hero just has a little tattoo in the shape of a teardrop. Yet the moments that do try to up the gritty ante - you've seen a little kid shoot someone, but have you ever seen dogs wolf down the butchered corpse? - come across as slightly vulgar. (Verdict: two stars out of five) ·