The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis

More than a fable about the clash of tradition and modernity, Ixcanul is finally a painful illustration of the ease with which those who have can prey on those who don’t.

Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl

Even as it verges on melodrama, Ixcanul remains fascinated by its people's practical thinking, by how their contemporary circumstances — and occasionally premodern beliefs — lead to actions both relatable and achingly, disastrously not.

Variety by Scott Foundas

What emerges, finally, is a film that gives an urgent, original voice to a people too frequently marginalized in both movies and society at large.

Los Angeles Times by Justin Chang

Even as it moves from tender ethnographic portraiture into a realm of hushed, intimate tragedy, Ixcanul quivers with a fierce if understated feminine energy.

RogerEbert.com by Alissa Wilkinson

Ixcanul combines its fable-like plot with striking realism.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Alex Migdal

Bathed in dusty hues and rain-forest greens, Ixcanul is gorgeously shot and skillfully frames Maria’s curbed sexuality (look to a scene where she waits for her younger crush in the evening shadows).

The Film Stage by Ed Frankl

Guatemala’s first-ever entry for the foreign language Oscar is an absorbing, beautifully-shot drama of cultural ritual and the drive of one young woman to escape a rudimentary social system.

The Playlist by Nikola Grozdanovic

Steeped in a culture rarely observed on screen, Bustamante's film has the airs of a documentary. Its ensemble cast of local actors have zero trace of affectation in their performances.

Screen Daily by Lee Marshall

Much credit too must go the actors, all non-professionals who were discovered by the director via community meetings and theatre workshops. There’s no Brechtian alienation here: these are committed yet unmannered performances that help to flesh out what might otherwise be a thin story.

Screen International by Lee Marshall

Much credit too must go the actors, all non-professionals who were discovered by the director via community meetings and theatre workshops. There’s no Brechtian alienation here: these are committed yet unmannered performances that help to flesh out what might otherwise be a thin story.

The Guardian by Jordan Hoffman

What’s most striking about Ixcanul is the elegant way in which it is shot. Scenes are given space, and the audience is allowed ample time to soak up the atmosphere.

The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo

This is a decidedly small-scale tragedy, but it still packs a cumulative wallop.

Slant Magazine by Diego Semerene

The film's structure, however stifling, is filled with gorgeous imagery and nuanced symbolism.

The Hollywood Reporter by Neil Young

A solid example of low-key, well-observed, humanistically sympathetic ethnography.

CineVue by Patrick Gamble

Ixcanul may struggle to tackle the larger issue it posits but well represents the lives and rituals of the marginalised community it seeks to give a voice.