'Gloria' Review Roundup: Chile's Oscar Submission is a Revelation

On Jan. 24 Roadside Attractions will release the Chilean film "Gloria" to excellent reviews.

The new film, directed by Sebastian Lelio, tells the story of Gloria, a free-spirited older woman, who has a whirlwind relationship with a former naval officer whom she meets out in a club.

The film made its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival where it won the Best Actress award. It later went to the New York Film Festival and was later chosen to represent Chile at the Oscars. However, the movie did not get nominated. The film currently has a 97 percent aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes and critics are raving about it.

David Rooney from the Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Funny, melancholy and ultimately uplifting, Sebastian Lelio's enormously satisfying spell inside the head and heart of a middle-aged woman never puts a foot wrong."

Geoff Andrew from Time Out wrote, "Sebastián Lelio's fine film boasts subtly nuanced, plausible performances, none more so than Paulina García as the strong-willed, fun-loving but sometimes lonely protagonist."

Stephanie Zacharek from the Village Voice also liked the movie and wrote, "I overheard someone call it a 'midlife crisis drama.' The comment was clueless for lots of reasons, most notably because there's no crisis in 'Gloria' at all, which is what makes it so marvelous."

Latinos Post also gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Ultimately, 'Gloria' comes off as a powerful affirmation of life's struggles with identity. Paulina Garcia gives a breathtaking performance in the title role while Lelio orchestrates a superb intimate, portrayal of mid-life crisis and the attempts at coping with one's increasingly lonely condition."

The film is Rated R and is slated to open in New York and Los Angeles.