Hey folks, Harry here... Well Soderbergh has cut 25 minutes, filmed some new stuff... and how is TRAFFIC coming along? Well this particular fella was dumbstruck by brilliance it seems. Now... this brings up an interesting tidbit for me. When I saw TRAFFIC... (two cuts ago), I embraced the film... lauded it for many many acheivements... BUT, given the cut of TRAFFIC I saw... and Aronofsky's REQUEIM FOR A DREAM... which would I have to pick as the better? Well... first off... they are very very very very different... and the cut I saw of TRAFFIC was rough... but at that stage, I'd go with Requiem... but TRAFFIC had great potential... and with the right sculpting from Soderbergh (a master filmmaker) it could be amazingly powerful. I'd say... that what we are looking at conversation wise come January 2001, is that TRAFFIC will be the FULL METAL JACKET of Drug Films... and REQUEIM FOR A DREAM will be the PLATOON... However... I can not wait to see Soderbergh's finished film when he has it... but ya know... USA and ARTISAN are the two film studios with the biggest uncompromised pair of balls in that town of Holly. Here's our latest look at TRAFFIC...
Hey Harry. I just got back from a screening of Traffic in Pasadena at the UA Marketplace. Let me begin by telling you that this movie is amazing. It clocked in at about two hours and twenty minutes of pure brilliance.
The film opens in Mexico with Benicio Del Toro and another Mexican police officer attempting to stop some drug smuggling. It then moves to Ohio where Mike Douglas is preaching about how we need to win the war on drugs while he sips on a glass of scotch. The movie progresses at a great pace, never getting dull and never causing me look at my watch. We see how every character is affected by drugs and how they all question their purpose in this so called "war". The film pretty much follows the synopsis we have all read. Catherine Zeta Jones takes over the family business when her husband is arrested, Mike's daughter becomes very addicted to some strong shit, Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman have some great scenes together as DEA agents, and Benicio Del Toro is completly deserving of an academy award as the Mexican police officer.
Steven Soderbergh did a perfect job with this film. He photographed it with utter greatness, allowing windows and the sky to be over-exposed causing some shots to just glare right at you. I'm not sure if it was the final score, but it should be. I just wanted to go to the back of the theater and give him a hug for putting this film together so well.
Well thats about it. Go see this movie. It's as good as you think it is.
The guy who saw Traffic
