4. 1. 1 MOVIES Union-News, Friday, January 5, 2001. Director: -4 1 Soderbergh hot property Continued from Page C4 screenings of "Traffic." "It's an im- portant film from a personal 7: standpoint because I was in danger of marginalizing myself by some of the choices I was making. "I was aware while I was (ing 'Out of Sight' that if it were not viewed as a creative success I was really gonna be in trouble.
There was a lot of self-imposed pressure. Luckily i it turned out well, and even though it didn't make money, it was viewed as a creative success. And that made people think of me a little differently: I wasn't just art -house boy Now comes "Traffic," which has "made dozens of year-end best film Opening today, it tells paralf- del stories about the North American drug traffic, from the cocaine of Mexico to the corridors of Washington. players include Benicio Del as an honest Mexican cop, Catherine Zeta-Jones as the wife of a drug kingpin, Don Cheadle as a San Diego DEA agent, Michael as the Ohio judge who is tapped as the U.S. drug czar, and Erika Christensen as his teen-age daughter, who gets hooked on The movie is cagey in its proach: It doesn't preach.
"One of the interesting things about your film," I told Soderbergh, "is that you can't walk out and say exactly what your message is." "That was our goal." I Q. when walked out of the theater. I had drawn my own 'conclusion. 4 A. Which is Q.
The laws against drugs are "simply operating as a price support system. A. You're technically correct. problem is, decriminalization is not gonna happen. To legalize: 'drugs would be in 44 If the United States legalizes, what Steven Soderbergh happens to Canada and Mexico? This country would turn into a huge pharmaceutical house.
So then you say, we'll just get everybody to legalize at the same time. What are the odds of that happening?" violation of every international trade agreement we currently have. If the United States legalizes, what happens to Canada and Mexico? This country would. turn into a huge pharmaceutical house. So then you say, we'll just get everybody to legalize at the.
same time. What are the odds of that happening? One thing most people can agree on is that locking up drug addicts is not a good idea. We're not locking up alcoholics, so why are we locking up drug addicts? Q. You'd look at the compulso. ry sentences and the huge prison population, and A.
My solution would be to approach this as a health care issue, not a criminal issue. In the film, Michael Douglas is in charge of enacting policies that he doesn't want to see his daughter be the victim of. We just had two presidential candidates who apparently have both had exposure of some sort of drugs, and they wouldn't talk about their personal experiences, and they didn't say anything about what their policies would You couldn't get a peep out of them. Q. It's too politically fraught, I suppose.
A. We've put ourselves in that position by demonizing drugs instead of looking at them realistically as one of many things you're exposed to in life that can derail you. We've made them evil; we've turned it into a big moral issue. We need to back up a little and look at it with a clearer vision. We say this is the worst possible thing you can ever do, when we oughta be saying, 'Hey, we need to be more compassionate about people who have a problem with But then you're artacked for being soft on drugs.
-P 3' Q. I liked the way you told the story through separate strands: Mexico, San Diego, Ohio, Washington. A. It was crucial that each of the stories have its own distinct look, so you knew where you were all the time. I tried to come up with visual schemes that reflected the way I felt when I was in those various locations.
The Mexico stuff is very bleached and has this sort of tobacco patina. The East Coast is very cool. San Diego has a blossomy feeling to the light; very idyllic, to contrast with the rot underneath. I pushed those looks to more of an extreme, since I was the cinematog. rapher.
Q. It must have been hard to organize all this material. A. It was, by a factor of 10, the most difficult development experience I've ever been through. (Screenwriter) Steve Gaghan is a bright, talented guy, and I don't know who else could have done it.
We went into production with a screenplay that was 165 pages long because I decided, let's just shoot it. I'll figure it out in the editing room, because I can't tell what's gonna rise to the surface. Q. You have big stars and yet everybody is a supporting actor in this movie, in a sense. Any problems with that? A.
Not that I was aware of. I was lucky to get people like Michael and Catherine, because of their understanding of their place within the film. It was a combination of their intuition and our conversations and then showing up on the set with the camera on my shoulder, not a lot of lights, if any, and sensing that a naturalistic performance will fit here. Michael and Catherine had a lot of personal publicity over their romance while the film was being made. Do you, as the director, just kind of ignore that? A.
Yes. I mean, I'm not the one who is being chased by the video cameras the moment I step into sight, like Catherine was. It was hard on them and It's a distraction, but it wasn't at as intense a level as it got to be later with the wedding and everything. Q. Your career, the last four films in particular, has gone terrifically well.
How does that effect your ability to look at projects? A. The good news is, perhaps that I get a look at interesting material sooner, and that instead of five layers between me and the performers that I'm trying to reach, there are now two. But not really interested in money, accumulating power, courting acclaim. The reason I get up in the morning is to go to work. 'Traffic': Already one of the year's best from Page C4 clusions.
Draw your own. Soderbergh himself does not favor legalizing drugs, but believes addiction is a public health problem, not a Certainly drugs breed crime addicts steal because they must and a more rational policy would result in a lower crime rate and a safer society. The movie tells several parallel stories, which sometimes link but usually do not. We meet two Mexican drug enforcement cops, two San Diego DEA agents, a mid-level wholesaler who imports drugs from a high-level drug millionaire who seems to be a respectable businessman, a federal judge who is appointed the U.S. drug czar and his teen-age daughter, who addicted to cocaine and nearly destroys her life.
We also meet a Mexican general has made it his goal to destroy a drug cartel but not for the reasons he claims. And we see how cooperation between Mexican and American authorities is compromised because key people on both sides may be corrupt, and betray secrets. The movie is inspired by a fivepart "Masterpiece Theater" series named "Traffik," which ran 10 years ago and traced the movement of heroin from the poppy fields of Turkey to the streets of Europe. The story in North America is much the same, which is why adapting this material was so depressingly easy. At every level, the illegal drug business is about making money.
If there is anything more lucrative than an addictive substance that is legal, like alcohol or tobacco, it is Mel Gibson Helen Hunt Women Want www cOm 0 NOW SHOWCASE EASTFIELD MALL CINEMAS ST STYLE BEATING SHOWING 543-6000 ROUTE 20 DIGITAL REGAL SPRINGFIELD CINEMAS PLAZA 16 SHOWCASE CINEMAS AIMLE SAIID WEST SPRINGFIELD 1-15 JAMES AVE. RIVERDALE ROAD ALL DIGITAL 733-5131 DIGITAL SEE DIRECTORY FOR SHOWTIMES of She Act HE PA WLA HA Ay Soderbergh's film uses a level-headed approach. It watches, it observes, it does not do much editorializing. The hopelessness of anti-drug measures is brought home through practical scenarios, not speeches and messages except for a few. one that is illegal, like drugs because the suppliers aren't taxed or regulated and have no overhead for advertising, packaging, insurance, employee benefits or quality control.
Drugs are produced by subsistence-level peasants 'and move through a distribution chain of street sellers; costs to the end user. are kept low to encourage addiction. Soderbergh's film "uses a levelheaded approach. It watches. it observes, it does not do much editorializing.
The hopelessness of antidrug measures is brought home through practical scenarios, not speeches and messages except for a few. One of the most heartfelt comes from a black man who observes that at any given moment in America, 100,000 white people are driving through black neighborhoods looking for drugs, and a dealer who can make $200 in two hours is hardly motivated to seek other employment. The key performance in the movie is by Michael Douglas. as Robert Wakefield, an Ohio judge tapped by the White House as the nation's new drug czar. He holds all the usual opinions, mouths all the standard platitudes, shares all the naive assumptions including his belief that he can destroy one of the Mexican cartels by coopera- Peter Travers, BOLLING STERE VeRTICaL LIMIT verticallimit.com COLUMBIAS PG-13 as wanton NE PICTURES NOW SHOWCASE EASTFIELD MALL CINEMAS STADIUM STYLE SEATING SHOWING 543-6000-ALL ROUTE 20 DIGITAL SPRINGFIELD REGAL CINEMAS PLAZA 16 SHOWCASE CINEMASSTARK ME ATTLE WAT WEST SPRINGFIELD 1-15 AVE.
RIVERDALF ROAD 781-3456-ALL DIGITAL 733-5131 ALL DIGITAL SEE DIRECTORY FOR SHOWTIMES ting with the Mexican authorities. This is true in theory, but in practice his information simply provides an advantage for one cartel over the other. Wakefield is a good man. His daughter, Caroline (Erika Christensen), is an honor student. One night at a party with other teenagers, she tries cocaine and likes it, very much.
We see how easily the drug is available to her, how quickly she gets hooked, how swiftly she falls through the safety nets of family and society. This is the social cost of addiction, and the rationale for passing laws against drugs but we see that it happens DESPITE the laws, and that without a profit motive drugs might not be so easily available in her circle. In Mexico. we meet two hardworking cops in the drug wars, played by Benicio Del Toro and Jacob Vargas, who intercept a big drug shipment but then are themselves intercepted by troops commanded by an army general (Tomas Milian), who is sort of the J. F.dgar Hoover of Mexican drug enforcement.
In California, we meet a middleman (Miguel Ferrer) who imports BARGAIN MATINEE SHOWS IN () REGAL STR STEREO CINEMAS DIG DIGITAL SOUND SPRINGFIELD PLAZA 16 Springfield Plaza at St James Ave 413-781-3456 Stadium Seating In ALL Auditoriums TRAFFIC (R) (1 00 4 00) 7 00 10:00 DIG ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (PG-13) 11.35 4 051 6 35 9:05 11.350 DIG CAST AWAY (PG-13) (1.453 15 4 45) 6 30 8 00 03 30 11:00 DIG THE FAMILY MAN (PG-13) (1 30 4 10) 6 45 9 20 11 55 DIG MISS CONGENIALITY (PG-13) 11 50 4 25) 7.10 9 35 12 15 010 WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: DRACULA 2000 (R) (1 20 3 35 5.45: 7:55 10 00 12:05 DIG WHAT WOMEN WANT (PG-13) (1 00 2'20 3 40 5 00) 6:50 7.35 9.25 10 15 12.0000 DUDE. WHERE MY CAR? (PG-13) 25 3 25 5 40) 7 40 9.40 11 40 DIG THE EMPEROR NEW GROOVE (G) 11 05 3 00 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 55) 6 55 8 55 10.55 00G VERTICAL LIMIT (PG-13) i1 45 4 20) 7 05 9 45 12 25 DIG DUNGEONS DRAGONS (PG-13) 11 20 3:55) 6 40 9:00 11 25 DIG UNBREAKABLE (PG-13) 6 40 9:00 11:20 DIG 102 DALMATIANS (G) (1 35 3.55) DIG DA. SEUSS' HOW THE GA.NCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (PG) (1 00 3 15 5 301 7 00 7 45 9:15 10 00 11.30 12.1503 AUGRATS IN PARIS- THE MOVIE (G) 12 40 4 30) DM No Passes HO Passes or Standard Super Savers Times Vend For Friday. January 5, Only 2001 4 'Quills': De Sade film more about the mind Continued from Page C4 the manuscripts out of the prison. Father Coulmier is clearly stirred by her, but does not act, and we have the incongruity of the young, handsome man forbidden by religion from pursuing fruits which fall into the hands of the scabrous old letch.
Caine's Royer-Collard, on the other hand, is devoted to the pleasures of the flesh and keeps close watch on his too-young wife, Simone (Amelia Warner), warning, "She is a rare bird and I intend to keep her caged." It is unmistakable that Royer-Collard is attracted to de Sade's sadism, and enjoys practicing it upon the man who gave it a name. If overt sinners evil, how more contemptible are those who seek the same pleasures under the cover of hypocrisy. De Sade at least acknowledged his tastes. Geoffrey Rush (the pianist from is a curious choice for de Sade; we might have imagined Willem Dafoe or Christopher Walken in the role, but Kaufman chooses not an actor associated with the bizarre but one associated with madness. De Sade is in the grasp of fixed ideas that sweep all sanity aside; unable to realize his fantasies in the asylum, he creates them through the written word, like a salesman or missionary determined to share his enthusiasm whether or not the world desires it.
By the end, the words de Sade: writes are indistinguishable, emotionally, from the pain he endures and invites by writing them. Whether this film will please most audiences is a good question. It is more about the mind than the flesh, and de Sade's struggle is SHOWCASE CINEMAS NATIONAL AMUsem*nTS THEATRES for Advance Tickats, Purchase By Phone with NW Purchase Online com BARGAIN PERFORMANCES MON-SAT ALL SHOWS STARTING BEFORE PM. SUM HOLIDAYS ALL SHOWS SEFORE 2PM NO PASSES EASTFIELD MALL ALL DIGITAL STEREO 16 STADIUM SEATING Route 20 413-543-6000 TRAFFIC 100 400 700 100G ALL THE PRETTY HORSES 125 415 650 925 1200 PO-13 CAST AWAY (ON 2 SCREENS) PO-13 SCREEN 1: 125 420 725 1020 SCREEN 1230 330 630 940 1225 THE FAMILY MAN (ON 2 SCREENS) PO-13 SCREEN 1: 115 400 700 945 1220 SCREEN 2: 145 430 730 1015 1240 MISS CONGENIALITY 145 415 715 940 1200 PO-13 WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: DRACULA 2000 145 415 720 940 1150 WHAT WOMEN WANT (ON 2 SCREENS) PO-13 SCREEN 1: 130 415 710 955 1225 SCREEN 2: 110 400 735 1015 1240 THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE 1230 230 430 630 830 DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? 110 310 510 720 930 1130 PO-13 PROOF OF LIFE 700 935 1200 VERTICAL LIMIT 155 440 720 1005 1230 PG-13 102 DALMATIANS 1235 240 450 0 UNBREAKABLE 715 930 1215 PG-13 RUGRATS IN PARIS- THE MOVIE 1230 230 430 DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 125 350 700 930 1140 PO WEST SPRINGFIELD 1-15 ALL DIGITAL STEREO Riverdale Road 413-733-5131 TRAFFIC 100 400 700 1000 MISS CONGENIALITY 145 415 715 940 1201 PO-13 CAST AWAY (ON 2 SCREENS) PG-13 SCREEN 1: 125 420 725 1020 SCREEN 2: 330 700 1000 1240 WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: DRACULA 2000 145 415 720 940 1150 A THE FAMILY MAN 115 400 700 945 1220 PG-13 DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? 110 310 510 720 930 1130 PG-13 WHAT WOMEN WANT (ON 2 SCREENS) PG-13 SCREEN 1: 115 410 710 955 1225 SCREEN 2: 200 445 735 1015 1240 VERTICAL LIMIT 155 440 720 1005 1230 PO-13 DA.
SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 130 400 710 940 1150 PO WEST SPRINGFIELD 16-19 ALL DIGITAL STEREO Riverdale Road 413-781-4890 ALL THE PRETTY HORSES 140 410 650 930 1205 PO-13 UNBREAKABLE 715 955 1225 PG-13 THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE 1230 230 430 630 830 A PROOF OF LIFE 655 940 1225 RUGRATS IN PARIS- THE MOVIE 100 300 500 102 DALMATIANS 1240 250 500 TIMES FOR THRU ONLY 2001 monomania to an excruciating extreme. Yet Kaufman Right Stuff." "The Unbearable Lightness of finds a tone that remains more entertaining than depressing, more absorbing than alarming. It was not much fun to be the marquis. but most of the time in this movie de Sade doesn't know that. and attacks each day with zest and curiosity.
Those around him are inspired by a spirit so free, even if his tastes are inexplicable. There is a scene where he dictates a novel through a human chain of other prisoners, who seem more intrigued by his invention than repelled by his images. Audiences may have the same response; we do not share his tastes but we have a certain admiration for his obstinacy. De Sade has been described as the ultimate extension of the libertarian ideal, but that is lunacy: He goes beyond ideology to Still, he stands as an extreme illus-1 tration of the idea that society isi best served if everybody behaves; according to his own self-interests. And he gets the last laugh: In the face of Father Coulmier's liberal instinct to sympathize and Royer-3 Collard's conservative attempt to restrain.
the marquis remains domitably himself. It is in his ture. The message of "Quills" is perhaps that we are all expressions off our natures, and to live most suc-1 cessfully we must understand Good luck that hardly any of us are dealt such a bad hand as de Sade. WINNER BEST SCREENPLAY and distributes drugs, and two federal agents (Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman) who are on his trail. And we meet the top executive for this operation, a respectable millionaire (Steven Bauer) and his socialite wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who has no idea where her money comes from.
Soderbergh's story, from a screenplay by Stephen Gaghan, cuts between these characters so smoothly that even a fairly complex scenario remains clear and charged with tension. Like Martin Scorsese's "Good Fellas," "Traffic" is fascinating at one level simply because it shows how things work how the drugs are marketed, how the laws are sidestepped. The problem is like a punching bag. You can hammer it all day and still it hangs there, impassive, unchanged. The movie is powerful precisely because it doesn't preach.
It is so restrained that at one moment the judge's final speech I wanted one more sentence, making a point, but the movie lets us supply that thought for ourselves. And the facts make their own argument: This war is not winnable on the present terms, and takes a greater toll in human lives than the drugs themselves. The drug war costs $19 billion a year, but scenes near the end of the film suggest that more addicts are helped by two free programs, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, than by all the drug troops put together. CINEMAS BARGAIN MATINEES BEFORE 6PM STADIUM SEATING HIGH-BACK SEATS PANORAMIC SCREENS A DIGITAL SOUND ENFIELD CINEMA 12 90 Elm Street. Westfield Shopping Town Entield Square Purchase Tickets in Advace by Calling 1-860-253-9201 TRAFFIC 12:10 3 20 6:45 9:50 ALL THE PRETTY HORSES 12.15 3:15 6:35 9.25 PG-13 CAST AWAY 11.50 1 10.30 00 4 30 5 50 8 00 9:55 PG-13 THE FAMILY MAN 12:30 7:10 9 50 PG-13 MISS CONGENIAUTY 11-40 2 10 4 35 7.159-40 PG-13 WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: DRACULA 2000 12 20 2:35 4.45 7:35 10:00 WHAT WOMEN WANT 1.00 3.10 3:45 6.30 7:00 9:15 9 45 PG-13 THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE Passes Accepted) 12:25 2 20 4:20 20 6 40 8 40 DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? 12:00 2 05 4:05 7 30 9 35 PG-13 DR.
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