2000 · drama · crime · thriller
Traffic
Directed by Steven Soderbergh2h 27m2000
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
Our read: Traffic (2000) reads as a sombre, steady, grounded drama · crime · thriller entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook.
Sombre, steady, measured drama / crime, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, cold.
- sombre
- intense
- twisty
Watching Traffic tonight? Spin for your lens.
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How Traffic feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want a sprawling drug-war mosaic that makes policy feel painfully personal.”
Skip it tonight — Skip if teen addiction scenes or bleak cartel violence will wreck tonight.
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