Product: Blow [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 4.0
Much better than the overhyped "Traffic"
OK, so Blow doesn't support a huge all star cast, or an ambitious multi-angled plot, but to be quite frank, I thought most of Traffic was a load of pretentious, preachy Hollywood smarm. With the exception of Benicio Del Toro scenes (which were fantastic and well deserving of an Oscar), the movie had all the personality and believability of "As the World Turns."Blow is much less ambitious in it's scope and cast, but what it lacks in sophistication, it more than makes up for in it's charm and honesty. That's not to say that facts weren't changed for whatever reason, but the protagonist isn't made out to be some herculean character. He's just a normal, likeable guy who made lots of tragic mistakes in life that lead to a path of self destruction. The movie doesn't preach or try to be all things to all people. It is what it is, and the people act like, well... people. What they do they do for their own reasons, not to further the plot. That's what makes the movie great, it's about people being people and all the stupid, unpredictable things they do.Oh, it's also about drugs, how could we forget. But the whole drug aspect seems very secondary to the human aspect. There are no grandiose speeches abut the War of Drugs and how we should spend more money on treatment than prevention or anything even close to that, but it also doesn't portray drugs in a glamorous or friendly way. Drugs can never be human, and this movie portrays them as neither evil, misguided or liberating. They are what they are: just another inanimate substance with a disproportionate social significance.Kudos as usual to Johnny Depp. After seeing the interviews with Jung in prison, it was almost creepy to see Depp mimic him. Depp does his best work when portraying real people like Hunter S. Thompson, Donnie Brasco, Ed Wood and the like. Depp goes so far as to adopt every subtle little nuance of a person making his performance completely believable. It was impossible for me not to sympathise with Jung, regardless of his selfish behavior.The DVD boasts some great special features that I have only begun to explore. Chief among these is the aforementioned prison interviews. There is also a host of deleted scenes and a commentary with both the director and Jung. Good Stuff.