Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
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The film is a mix of different storylines that have one thing in common-drugs.
There is the story of a judge appointed to spearhead the USA's drugs crime prevention. The only problem is that his own daughter is hooked on narcotics and is ruining her life as well as her parents. Douglas is good as the judge and is finally branching out into roles that suit his age. The best performancein this segment however is the daughter played by Erika Christensen. She is a very troubled teen who goes through a lot of emotions and is one to watch for the future. Soderburgh being the director of photography under a differnt name shoots each segment with different filters to produce interesting colur palletes. In this segment everything is shot with a leached out blue hue making everything bleak and cold.
Another plot line inolves Benicio Del Toro as a mexican cop who is an honest man in a corrupt system. Toro is getting all the acting plaudits for this role and rightly so. For most of the time he speak in native language but is very hard, honest and you can see that his charcater is on an ongoing uphill struggle. He also has a lot of humanity. It's no mistake that the film opens and closes with him. This part is hot in a very grainy yellow to give it a heated look and it works. It's also the most difficult part of the film to follow because of the subtitles and complicated characters.
Catherine Zeta Jones plays the pregnant wife of a drugs traffiker in another segment. Again this is a good performance and the segment is shoe using a lot of natural light. Her husband is being held for drug crimes and she is left to run the business after some guidance from their seedy lawye Dennis Quaid. This is the segment that links to the final part involving FBI agents Don Cheadle and Luiz Guzman. They are placing Jones under surveillance and have arrested the main guy who can provide the evidence to jail Jones' husband. This is the humour in the film with the pair getting some good wisecracks from each other. Guzman is one ofthe funniest guys out there at the moment and evry word he says in his mexican waccent is funny.
The film is well edited and written. However the film is very complicacted at times and you may get lost in trying to figure out who is who. Having said that this is a bonus as you want to watch the film another time to understand it then watch it again in case there was something you missed.
Is it the best film of the year ? Well thats' difficult to say. Come Oscar time I'd say Del Toro is a pretty good bet for an award but the film many be a bit too gritty in it's presentation to please the voters. Soderburghs is a real master of his craft and knows how to shoot a film and make it look different.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2002 - Drama - Director: Todd Haynes - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Viola Davis, James Rebhorn, Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson
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three separate stories woven together by a common theme: the war on drugs. Bold in scope, it showcases Steven Soderbergh at the top of his game, directing a peer...
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Traffic is the Academy Award winning thriller set in the world of drug trafficking, from ... more
the cartels in Mexico to the wealthy dealers across America. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Traffic evokes the high stakes and high risks of the drug trade, as see...
Featuring a huge cast of characters, the ambitious and breathtakingTrafficis a tapestry of ... more
three separate stories woven together by a common theme: the war on drugs. Bold in scope, it showcases Steven Soderbergh at the top of his game, directing a peer...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon...
A high-ranking judge with a vendetta against drugs learns his own daughter is a cocaine ... more
addict - a San Diego housewife must suddenly take over her husband's drug dealing business when he is arrested - a Mexican police officer struggles to do the right ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Variety of characters. Strong theme. Performances by Del Toro, Cheadle, Christensen & Douglas. Good support. Disadvantages: Heavy going in places. Quite long.
MrRPriest 08.03.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Traffic (DVD)
![Traffic [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78540259.jpg "Traffic [DVD] [2001]")
Feb 5th, 2001
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