Set in the wide desert expanse of southern California, this movie deals with a strict and buttoned-up farmer with five children and a deaf wife who doesn’t speak. When she begins to drift away from her family, pushed by her own desires and secrets, her children watch as their family falls apart...

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This debut by Andrea Pallaoro shows promise of even better things to come. Well-crafted, with a fine screenplay and good performances, Medeas is unafraid of revealing its tragic nature, as evidenced by its title referencing Greek mythology. A noble film, it is especially adept at observing the vagaries of the human soul. The magnetism of Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) and Brian F. O'Byrne contributes to much of the emotion, slowly but surely moving through events witnessed by the children with silences, glances and sudden moments of suspense. Medeas does have few weaknesses though, with a few too many Deep-And-Meaningful scenes where no one says anything that don’t work well enough and risk losing the audience. Not destined to be a hit, but certainly the work of a director to watch out for.