On video and DVD

MARIA FULL OF GRACE, written and directed by Joshua Marston, 101 minutes, rated R. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Joshua Marston’s “Maria Full of Grace,” one of last year’s best, least-seen films, features a performance by Catalina Sandino Moreno that has won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. This is unusual for a few reasons.

First, “Maria” is a foreign language film, which the Academy tends to recognize most through the umbrella of Best Foreign Film. Exceptions have been made, of course, but if you’re an actor seeking an Oscar nomination, history has proved that you better be speaking English if you hope to get noticed.

Second, the movie was released in July 2004, thus giving the Academy months to forget about it and, in turn, about Moreno’s beautifully measured performance, which somehow is the first of her career.

As directed by Marston from his own script, this excellent, absorbing film begins with Maria’s turbulent life in Colombia, where she strips thorns from roses in a floral sweatshop, gives most of her money to her difficult family, and worries about her relationship with her boyfriend, Juan (Wilson Guerrero), the other thorn in her life.

At 17, Maria is pregnant with Juan’s child. Worse for her is that she’s more vulnerable than she would like to admit, particularly after quitting her job. And so when she meets the charismatic Franklin (Jhon Alex Toro) at a dance with her friend Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega), Maria’s life takes a dramatic turn as the attraction between she and Franklin blooms.

Knowing Maria needs work, Franklin suggests she become a mule – one of the dozens of women used by Colombian drug lords to ship drugs into the United States.

To do so, Maria must meet with the head of a local drug cartel, take pills to slow her digestion, swallow nearly 70 large rubber pellets filled with God-knows-what, and then hop a plane for the States, where she will be greeted by two thugs eager for her to expel the drugs so they can get them on the streets.

For her trouble, Maria will receive a sizable chunk of cash and with it the promise of a new, independent life. But all isn’t so easy in the drug world, and what becomes of Maria as the system has its way with her makes for one hell of a good movie, the bare bones of which I’ve only touched on here.

What’s so admirable about “Maria” is how Marston never romanticizes, never goes for the easy cliche. He knows well enough not to meddle, just to observe, allowing his hooks to pull at the film’s center without revealing the lines that make his movie so gripping.

As for Moreno, that she didn’t slip through the Academy’s cracks in spite of the onslaught of Oscar hopefuls that flood the market at year’s end says plenty about how talent sometimes really does see its way through. She’s such a natural, she’s almost unnatural, but in the best sense of the word. It’s not every day at the movies that you meet someone as gifted as this.

Grade: A

Also on video and DVD

RAY, directed by Taylor Hackford, written by Hackford and James L. White, 152 minutes, rated PG-13.

In “Ray,” the rich, satisfying biography of Ray Charles, audiences will find the male performance to beat this year – Jamie Foxx as the legendary musician.

As Charles, who died last June at age 73, Foxx transforms himself with a performance that’s as startling as it is authentic. It’s beyond imitation. He’s so convincing in the role, he makes you believe you’re watching Charles play himself, an uncanny feat of showmanship that will win him the Academy Award for Best Actor.

As directed by Taylor Hackford from a script he co-wrote with James L. White, the movie’s focus is sweeping. It follows Charles’ bleak childhood in the ’30s, his rise to fame in the ’50s and ’60s, how he first pushed the nation’s buttons by blending gospel music with the sexual rhythms of R&B. It examines how he was banned from the state of Georgia because he took a stand against segregation, how Mary Ann Fisher (Aunjanue Ellis) and Margie Hendricks (Regina King) became his combative, long-term lovers, and how his shifting tastes in music suited the wandering, hungry aesthetic of an artist.

If the movie occasionally feels too neat, it never masks the fact that Charles could be a difficult man with flaws as great as his talent. There’s a fair amount of risk in that, particularly when you’re dealing with an icon as beloved as Ray Charles. Still, Hackford and White wisely resist hagiography, arguing that, had you known Charles intimately, you likely would have had more respect for his body of work than for the man himself.

Mirroring Charlize Theron in last year’s “Monster,” an actor no one took seriously until she turned out a performance that deservedly won her the Academy Award, Foxx follows suit. His performance in “Ray” is something to get excited about.

Throughout, he’s willing to take risks that transcend the screen, allowing him to present a gifted artist haunted by his share of demons – the childhood death of his brother, the loss of his eyesight at age 7, his 20-year addiction to heroin, his years of philandering. What’s found in his performance is one reason we go to the movies – and the reason they give out awards.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 Bangor and WCSH 6 Portland, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Alien vs. Predator – B

Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy – B+

At Home at the End of the World – B+

The Bourne Supremacy – B

Catwoman – B-

Cellular – B+

The Chronicles of Riddick – C-

The Cookout – C-

The Clearing – C+

Collateral – B+

Dawn of the Dead – A-

The Day After Tomorrow-B

De-Lovely – B

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story – B

Elf – B+

Ella Enchanted – B

Envy – D

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A-

Fahrenheit 9/11 – A-

The Forgotten – D

Friday Night Lights – B+

The Grudge – D-

Hero – B+

I, Robot – B+

Kill Bill Vol. 2 – B

King Arthur – B

The Manchurian Candidate – B+

Man on Fire – B

Maria Full of Grace – A

Mean Girls – B+

Napoleon Dynamite – B+

Open Water – A-

Paparazzi – D-

Ray – A

Shall We Dance? – B

Shaun Of The Dead – B+

Shrek 2 – B

Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow – A-

Spider-Man 2 – A

The Stepford Wives – C

Super Size Me – C-

The Terminal – D

The Triplets of Belleville-A

Troy – C-

The Village – D+