Traffic
Dancer In The Dark (see my Oct. 24 entry)
Before Night Falls (see my Sept. 15 entry)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (see my Nov. 30 entry)
Brother (see my Sept. 15 entry)
Ninth Gate
A couple of the worst: Get Carter, Hollow Man
It's official; Steven Soderbergh is the most talented filmmaker working in Hollywood today. Traffic is a phenomenal exposé of the current drug situation in America. With a very documentary-like feel, Soderbergh (and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan) follow the chemical trail all the way from the Mexican drug lords to the teenaged end-users in the States.
With a large cast, headed by Michael Douglas and Benicio Del Toro, Traffic weaves together three main stories connected by a major dope shipment from Mexico. Douglas plays a newly appointed drug czar who wants to take the "war on drugs" to a whole new level. Unfortnately he's too blind to see what's going on at home with his daughter until it's almost too late. Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman play career-loving DEA agents who collar a Stateside importer (Miguel Ferrer). The shipment was the property of surface-legit millionaire Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer) who's taken into custody leaving his pregnant wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to fend for herself. Like a vulnerable lioness she'll protect her cubs at all costs. At the source of the dope - Mexico - honest state cop Javier Rodriguez (Del Toro) is caught between doing his job and self- preservation in a system so wholly corrupt, even a top military general (70s Italo-superstar Tomas Milian) tries to knock off the competition for his drug baron partner. The rest of the cast is populated by well known Hollywood film and TV faces, as well as actual lawyers, senators (check the politico party scene) and other cogs in the anti-drug system doomed to failure.
Each of the three main plots has its own cinematic style: Mexico is raw, sepia- toned and high shuttered, lending it a deadly urgency. Douglas' world is one of icy blue detachment. All the glass, leather and concrete so far away from the real problem. The almost happy-go-lucky world of the DEA agents and the luxurious lifestyle of Zeta-Jones is colourful, saturated (think Scarface). And who shot the film you ask? Soderbergh himself...of course.
Traffic is brimming with great performances, powerful writing ("Hi, daddy."), cinematic flourishes and a fantastic score. I predict the film will inspire heated debate and put drugs back in the media spotlight. Can't wait to see this film again, and then a few more times.
