Review of Human Traffic

Introduction

"The last great film of the nineties" screams the box. A very bold claim wouldn`t you say? According to the blurb, "the real story of youth in the nineties" is "chemicals, clubs, bars, pubs, pushing the vinyl, blagging the guest list, mobile phones, trainers, combats, care-less, monged, mashed, sorted, safe". And whilst some of these elements had their part to play in the era (and the film itself), I`d hardly call them the real story of the decade.

But that`s what we`re presented with here, a combination of drugs, drink, smoking, swearing, clubbing, highs and lows, all told over an eventful weekend in Cardiff.

Video

A 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer which is good on the whole. Some scenes do look a bit grainy, in particular some zoomed footage from a TV performance featured in the film, but there`s nothing that really detracts from your visual enjoyment of the film.

Lots of flashy camera tricks and bits of directing, lots of flashing lights in nightclubs, and plenty of characters talking to camera make for a visually interesting film.

Audio

A big, thumping DD5.1 soundtrack, which is totally dominated by dance tracks. Apparently, Pete Tong was employed as the "Music Supervisor" on this film. The soundtrack reads like a track listing from any dance compilation CD released around the time of the film, and the double CD of "tracks from and inspired by" the film was a big seller in its own right.

The dialogue is clear and understandable, and can always be heard above the thumping basslines. Your room is filled whenever there`s music playing, but your sound system doesn`t get a workout at any other time.

If you don`t like dance music, you won`t want to watch this film!

Features

A brief selection of extras includes a "cast & crew video", interviews (which are quite interesting), a music video, TV spots, a trailer and biographies for cast and crew. Not a great selection, and not really of any lasting value.

Although menus are a standard feature, the menus here are far from standard and deserve a brief mention, as they are a very nice feature of the disc, and even allow you to change the background music used on them if you so desire.

Conclusion

"The last great film of the nineties" - no way. Whilst interesting on a visual level and with a great selection of dance music to stimulate your ears, your brain will remain incredibly unstimulated. There are some great comedy moments during the film, but it needs to be entertaining or thought-provoking in between those moments.

And it isn`t. It just ambles along, not really entertaining you and not trying to stimulate your mind either. If there`s supposed to be a message here then I certainly missed it. There`s no real plot, the story takes three seconds to work out, and after that you`re not left with much. Many have raved about this film, but I`m not one of them.

Very average.