avis2783 It's been done far too many times. If you stare away from the drug trafficking, the immigration issues, poverty, lying, betrayal, family, and most importantly, love, are far better fodder for this film.Some of the images and situations are very real and graphic. You can appreciate it because it doesn't show people who take a plane into the US, get a PhD and work their way up to a six-figure salary. This movie shows addiction, prostitution and squalor--a much more realistic point of view.It's reminiscent of Amores Perros and Buendia Bakery. The plot is quite rich with many twists and turns. The journey in the film is also quite perilous. Upon arrival, the male lead is faced with many tough decisions. His search for Reina also gets to the point of lunacy.I won't completely spoil the ending but the movie is well worth the watch.

tatyshk Paraiso Travel is by far much more than just an illegal immigrant story. I found that the story was well built and narrated with the only exception of the part about lost mother. The characters were very human in all their complexity and what i appreciated the most was that none of them were perfect or "superhero" type. Even Marlon, the main character, is not completely positive. He is weak and lost, doesn't know how to deal with his anger and sexual desires but in the same time he has a good heart and is willing to go through hell to find his lost girlfriend instead of just going back home to Colombia to his fairly well-off family.I don't agree with one of the users saying that the film director probably hated women because of the way he portrayed Reina. She is just one of the numerous female characters there and she definitely belongs to the type of women who discover early how to exploit men with their sexuality and in the end it's the only thing they know do best. She never had feelings for Marlon luring him into following her to New York only to keep her company perhaps. So in the end Marlon realizes that beneath that sultry body and pretty face of Reina, there is no soul or heart or moral values. I didn't even feel bad for her having to live in a trailer with a baby and drunkard mother because in the end she deserved all that.

morisn First of all, I'm not a movie critic. In fact, this is my first comment on a movie, EVER. So then, why do I dare giving my opinion about this film? Well, first of all, I can say that I admire the boldness in which some movies are made and/or written by Colombians (?) in later years, that includes soap operas that break the common poor girl rich guy schema of traditional Latin American series. As an example, 'Cafe con Aroma de Mujer', the only soap I actually watched (and I am NOT a soap opera fan) in which actress Margarita de Francisco played a great role. I have no less than praise for her in this movie. Ana de La Guerra was also great. Now, but the reason why I write my comments is because I see this movie as yet another eye opener for so many latinos that are looking forward to that 'Paraiso' and give anything (literally) in order to reach the land of opportunities. Even though the movie is far from being a documentary which is not intended to be anyways, and even though I was fortunate enough to migrate to North America legally so I don't really know what happens when you venture north this way, to me, the movie portrays the true crude reality that people face when they decide to come illegally, which is far from being a joy ride. Anyhow, but because I'm not here to judge anyone, I'd just like to mention that this movie as bold as it is to me, it's a good project that I see as the reality of not only the hardship most latinos face when traveling in such conditions but also a lost of the innocence when polluted by the differences in cultures they find once in the new land. Now this guy Marlon was lucky enough to find a heartwarming paisana, wife of whom initially completely rejected any help. But that's actually another story. But also the movie shows that this was the land that turned sassy, sexy, witty Reina into someone totally unexpected for him. That could've happened anywhere in the world though, even in their home Medellin. He was indeed, bait of her hidden ambition. Well, Have I said too much already? Maybe. Enjoy it!

princessmarya OK, I saw this movie at the tribeca film festival and came face to face with the director as I tried to get the hell out of there. I wish I could have said this to him now.the guy must have a vendetta against the female race or something because the young (18 years old!!!) female lead Reina seems to be everything he wants you to hate about women. She is a cock tease, she uses her sexuality to get men to do things for her (quel horreur!), she cares about only one thing, coming to America to find her drug addicted mess of a mother and have a better life. Throughout the movies, she is robbed, raped, crosses the rio grande, is stuffed in a hollowed out tree stump and abandoned by her boyfriend in a skanky hostel in brooklyn. She is such a pathetic figure in the end of the movie, how could anyone possibly look this young messed up mother of an infant, prostitute and caretaker of a indigent mother in the eye and tell her to kill herself? well, thats what the director/writer and lead character does. what a mensch.which leads me to the male "hero". although attractive in the face, he has the personality of Nomie Malone from Showgirls, and I have trouble believing all women fall for his charms. He continually gets himself lost by running around like a person who's never lived in a big city, I have a hard time swallowing that a colombian from medellin is that ignorant of neighborhoods and how to retrace their steps, that city has 3 million people in it. I've met colombians, they seem to do just fine with streets and landmarks, they even know how to drive!!!! They are a sophisticated and street savvy people. Even worse, he often stumbles into NYC landscapes that are right out of 80s movies clichés (trash can fire bums, squatters, s&m, payphones - your movie needs to be updated when it looks like a scene from bonfire of the vanities) This is not NYC, this is NYC circa 1988,there's so much "ick" factor in this movie, there's even a sex scene with a sleeping grandma in the room. A SLEEPING GRANDMA PEOPLE!! Thats farrelly brothers gross, and not in a good way.With a plot so similar to Showgirls its spooky, this movie is simply really really really bad.