Human Traffic

This film follows the lives of five close friends during one typical rave party evening, with a little bit of background on each of the main players, a setup to the nite’s activities, the parties, parties and parties, and inevitably…the crash end of the evening.

Hard to truly rate this film since I did quite appreciate its visuals, its soundtrack and its authentic portrayal of the rave/drug scene, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that the characters were uninteresting, the story absent and the overall sense…deja-vu. Of course, movies like TRAINSPOTTING and GO (9/10) worked because they presented us with an overall picture including intriguing characters and engaging storylines, two elements which were ultimately missing from this fast-paced movie. In fact, this film could actually be considered more of a documentary on the rave scene, with its believable insights, actual drug depictions, which are generally glanced over in other teen-party flicks, and its innovative filming style. Unfortunately for the audience, at least in my case, all five of the main characters were just annoying, unentertaining and generally, over-the-top. Add that to the fact that the two lead girls looked like they were in their forties, and not much investment went into these characters from my end. Without that bond with the characters, without much of a story, and without much of a high while watching this picture, I can’t say that much of it “did” anything for me.

Sure, there were a couple of definite funny scenes, including one which broke down the politics of “passing the spliff” at a party…very funny! And another one which showcased the uncomfortable feeling one has when constantly running into someone whom you only know as an acquaintance, and all of the bullshit conversation that you must carry on with that person. So true, and pretty darn funny as well. Many of the other moments in the film featured movie references attempting to be clever (both the TAXI DRIVER (10/10) and STAR WARS conversations didn’t work for me), as well as kids basically screaming, jumping up and down, and telling us how cool it is to be high. I know what they’re saying, but watching it for ninety minutes just didn’t click much for me. The ending was especially weak with a dopey romance angle coming out of nowhere, but I will give the first time writer/director Justin Kerrigan this much…the camera tricks are abundant and certainly quite inventive.

Being a fan of stylish movies and not being afraid to admit that I have personally “inhaled” some friendlies of my own, I might recommend this film to those who love the raves, like to smoke a little doobie before watching a movie, and anyone who doesn’t mind watching a film with no actual plotline. For the rest of ya’ll, I would suggest skipping this puppy, and renting many of the better films to which this movie makes mention, including TAXI DRIVER (10/10), CLERKS, SCARFACE or THE SHINING (9/10).

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian