Critic Reviews

• Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

  The results are mixed -- a handful of moments of genuine, undeniable power, interspersed with a fair number of listless scenes.

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  The dimly lit, exquisitely composed cinematography, by Guillermo Nieto, adds to the draw of this highly recommended movie.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Although it is not a comedy, Lion's Den is suffused with sense of life lived in the present. Even the grimmest moments are not exploited to instill fear and loathing.

• Dave Calhoun, Time Out

  Part meticulous character study, part hyperrealist drama...

• David Fear, Time Out New York

  A portrait of a subculture whose members take pride in walking their kids to the penitentiary's pre-K class.

• Aaron Hillis, Village Voice

  Once the film devolves into a drag-down fight for custody with Julia's mother, only Gusman's nuance saves us from a script that seems geared more toward screeching overacting.

• Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

  Riveting, harrowing and thoroughly infused with hope and love, this prison drama is so realistic that it's often difficult to watch

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  Frustratingly, the film tells us little about the crime itself and the denouement is a little unconvincing. The taste of sweat and fear is, however, real enough.

• Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

  Real inmates are extras, real cells provide the scenery: it has the desperate vitality of something barely made-up.

• Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

  Less than the sum of its parts? Yes. Nice parts? Yes.

• Jason Wood, Little White Lies

  Lion's Den is an unqualified success.

• Alan Jones, Radio Times

  How do you raise a child in prison? Argentinian director Pablo Trapero tackles that question with affecting skill in this initially squalid yet ultimately uplifting social drama.

• Kate Stables, Total Film

  No melodrama, no thriller twists, just Trapero's camera sticking to his lead actress like sweat.

• David Parkinson, Empire Magazine

  [Features] a strong central performance and convincing depiction of the compartmentalisation of Argentina's women.

• Stan Hall, Oregonian

  When it hits, the emotional intensity is ratcheted up, sometimes to overly showy levels, before ending relatively quietly with an escape attempt that, depending on one's view, is either gratifying or tragic.

• Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

  A thoroughly captivating and engrossing drama with a raw, unforgettable performance by Martina Gusman.

• Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine

  The film's only value may be to make foreign viewers aware, at the very simplest level, of the unique practices of the Argentinean penal system.

• Joseph Proimakis, Movies for the Masses

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• Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

  The edgy, powerful performance of Martina Gusman (also director Pablo Trapero's wife and producer) as a pregnant woman accused of murder, elevates this Cannes Fest Argentinean entry above the trappings of the women behind bars genre.

• Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

  Por mais que tenha admirado a performance de Sandra Corveloni em Linha de Passe, não sei como Gusman pode ter saído de Cannes sem o prêmio de atuação na bagagem.

Read all 20 critic reviews