Directed and Cinematography by Steven Soderbergh
Written by Stephen Gaghan

Michael Douglas as Robert Wakefield Don Cheadle as Montel Gordon Benicio Del Toro as Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez Luis Guzmán as Ray Castro Dennis Quaid as Arnie Metzger Catherine Zeta-Jones as Helena Ayala Steven Bauer as Carlos Ayala Jacob Vargas as Manolo Sanchez Erika Christensen as Caroline Wakefield Clifton Collins Jr. as Francisco Flores Miguel Ferrer as Eduardo Ruiz Topher Grace as Seth Abrahams

Running Time: 147 min.
Release Date: Jan. '01

Overall Call:
Director Steven Soderbergh (won Oscar for Best Director) has quickly regained the momentum first generated from his debut Sex, Lies and Videotape. Traffic's story is told with an intensity refreshingly void of the MTV vein. It grabs you through near silent montages and allows the gravity of the situation to engage you rather than a bombast of shove it down your throat editing and over the top musical thud. The performances across the board were extremely impressive. Both Benicio Del Torro(won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) and Don Cheadle are very engaging. The way in which it was shot was also a point to mention. The portion of the story shot in Mexico was separated by a washed out tannish yellow coloring that brought out an extra layer of depth from the rest of the story lines. Other unique filming methods added to the story as well, without being self conscious about it. Anyone not put off by harsh reality and a use your head style of story telling will enjoy this very solid film.

Reasons For Recommendation:
+ Very strong performances
+ Refreshing nontraditional story telling
+ Old topic that doesn't force feed opinions