Product: Blow [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 4.0
A life reduced to a series of montages
Blow portrays the life and times of one George Jung, a real-life drug dealer currently serving a long prison sentence and not eligible for parole until 2015. Ted Demme presents Jung's life as a series of montages, growing up in Massashusetts son of a hard-working man and a shrewish wife, moving to California with a childhood friend and becoming immersed in the marijuana trade, serving a stint in jail and meeting a Columbian who introduces him to cocaine, working his way up in Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel and making more money than he can spend, betrayal by his colleagues and leaving the business, busted again with large amounts of cocaine in his house during his 38th birthday party, out of jail making amends with his daughter, doing one last job so he can retire to California with his daughter, getting busted yet again and sentenced to 60 years. It's hard to tell how much of the stroy is real and how much is a product of George Jung's imagination, but in the end Demme had no choice but to trust Jung's portrayal of his life. To Demme's credit (and maybe Jung's) the movie doesn't deify Jung's life. He made his decisions for whatever reasons good or bad. We can guess what his motivations were, and decide whatever we want to about his decisions. In the end, Jung's life is yet another largely wasted by drugs. Whatever your opinions are on drugs, this movie's portrayal of Jung's life is largely neutral on the political questions. That's one reason I rate it so highly. It doesn't glamorize drugs, nor does it make any judgements on the penalties that Jung ends up getting because of his involvement in the drug trade.George Jung is played masterfully by Johnny Depp. Is there any question who is the best actor of his generation? Depp is brilliant in this movie. Ray Liotta is superb as Depp's father as well. The rest of the cast was good except for Penelope Cruz's incoherent portrayal of George Jung's drug addled wife.The movie covers a lot of ground and lacks some of the detail you might expect because of it. But it's a well made, thoughtful and haunting movie that will stick with me for awhile.I definitely recommend this one if you are looking for something a little different than your average Hollywood fare.