compelling despite too much sentimentalism

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2005)

The director manages to give plenty of moving moments in this biographical film. He borrows some elements from Scarface (the rise and the fall of a man) and Goodfellas (money leading to ruin) for making an unconventional picture with almost no violence and telling of various topics: love, death, ambition, father-sun/daughter relationships. Besides arousing and holding attention for the whole runtime, it's also somewhat interesting for recounting the drug-dealing/dealers story from the Seventies to nowadays, focusing on cocaine king George Jung. Enough action to keep the attention high, excellent story line and a lot of emotions.