Human Traffic is a film about contemporary youth culture, or in other words, kids, clubs, sex and drugs. We might as well be honest
about it - director Justin Kerrigan is.
His story, set in Cardiff, documents a weekend in the lives of six
friends, exploring the fantasies and anxieties of their everyday lives as
they escape into a world of music and drugs, cramming as much pleasure
into their leisure time as they can.
The fact that these young people use illegal drugs to attain that
pleasure will doubtless bring forth accusations of glorification
from middle England, and they wouldn't be wholly unjustified as
Kerrigan's characters are undeniably charming and appealing. These are not
the punctured heroin-scum living out their hellish existence at the edges
of society; these kids are society. Take a look at Moff (Danny Dyer), the jobless, drug-dealing son of a policeman, or LuLu (Lorraine Pilkington) a confident, beautiful student, dubbed the ultimate club minx. Her best friend is Jip (John Simm), a bright spark in a dull job, sexually insecure but still cool enough to blag his way into the best club night around. Using comedy and above all, honesty, Kerrigan accurately captures the essence of 90s club culture with Pete Tong's soundtrack of selected club classics driving the euphoric mood to its peak. The director skillfully depicts the reality that many are unwilling to face - even nice kids do drugs these days, and they have a great time, despite the dangers.
To concentrate solely upon the drugs issue however, would be to do a great
injustice to this talented new director. He alternates deftly between
fantasy and pseudo-documentary styles in order to portray the developing
relationships between his malcontented characters, who are made all the
more charismatic by a spot-on cast. Even if you don't like what they do,
you can't help but like them. Moff is possibly the most loveable muppet of
a drug dealer ever to have hit the screen.
Kerrigan's originality and talent for comedy should ensure that Human Traffic appeals to a far wider audience than clubbers alone. Anyone who's ever hated their boss will surely appreciate Kerrigan's grotesque caricatures of overbearing employers, especially the lard-oozing burger bar pest, and even if the cameos by dance/drug icons pass you by, there's still plenty here to enjoy.
Reviewed by Katy Thompson
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