Although pretending to tackle a hard subject, Traffic merely flirts with its political and moral themes. Soderbergh and writer Stephen Gaghan speak of the film's cohering idea as control - and the lack of it. The visual mannerisms he introduces into the telling of this tale become completely maddening. Soderbergh is one of many mainstream film makers who has recently come under the trendy sway of the Dogma school. With Del Toro, especially, one senses a gravity in the character that extends beyond the occasionally facile moves of the script.
Life is a cabaret . . .
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