"Goro Toshima's A Hard Straight offers an up-close look at the temptations and frustrations faced by three parolees as they grapple with challenges of life in the outside world after long prison terms. The film imposes arresting dramatic structure on day-to-day struggles of its characters, and remains scrupulously even-handed while questioning how much each ex-convict is responsible for his or her own plight. It won't be hard for this documentary to gain global fest and tube exposure."

Variety, April 30th, 2004, Joe Leydon

"...a riveting new documentary by first-time filmmaker Goro Toshima...The three homecoming stories he documents are even more timely now; U.S. prisons will release a record 650,000 people this year. Within three years, 40 percent will be back in prison. Academics, politicians, and government officials have long struggled with the question of why. Toshima, who shadowed his subjects for two years, has created an honest and intimate film packed with much needed answers."

Village Voice, Aug., 2004, Jennifer Gonnerman

"...Toshima aptly conveys the hypocrisy within the justice system and shows how easily rehabilitation can become recidivism. An immediate and intriguing glimpse into one of this country's most severe problems, A Hard Straight is enlightening and emotional. These people aren't just criminals; they're neighbors and relatives who have somehow been left behind."

Austin Chronicle, March 19, 2004, Darcie Stevens

"...One of the highlights of the documentary competition ...Wisely allowing his subject's voices to tell their own tales, Toshima still manages to inject a definite directorial intelligence throughout this pained, persuasive work. Shooting interviewees on stark white or black backgrounds to foreground their increasing isolation, juxtaposing moments of bravado with scenes of quiet desperation, he accomplishes the difficult task of not only showcasing the lives of those caught in ever-shrinking circles, but the flaws in a system that builds, and keeps, such traps."

Filmmaker Magazine, Summer, 2004 Jason Sanders (included in an article reviewing the IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival)

"...Goro Toshima's dispiriting documentary follows three parolees from the California penal gulag as they rejoin a world of temptations armed only with $200 in "gate money" and a sliver of optimism...Toshima stingingly indicts this grotesque system - particularly for slashing drug-rehab programs - but simultaneously doesnít flinch from depicting the unjustified self-pity and pathetic rationalizations offered up by his helpless recidivists."

LA Weekly, June 18, 2004, J. Patterson