Human Traffic
Human Traffic | |
---|---|
Directed by | Justin Kerrigan |
Written by | Justin Kerrigan |
Produced by | Allan Niblo Emer McCourt Renata S. Aly |
Starring | John Simm Lorraine Pilkington Shaun Parkes Danny Dyer Nicola Reynolds |
Cinematography | Dave Bennett |
Edited by | Patrick Moore |
Music by | Matthew Herbert Roberto Mello |
Production companies | Irish Screen Fruit Salad Films[1] |
Distributed by | Metrodome Distribution (United Kingdom) Clarence Pictures (Ireland) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 99 minutes[2] |
Countries | United Kingdom Ireland |
Language | English |
Budget | £2.2 million[3] |
Box office | £2.5 million[4] |
Human Traffic is a 1999 British-Irish
The film explores themes of
With an original budget of £340,000,
Synopsis
The film is an ensemble piece in which the five protagonists plan, enjoy and come down from a weekend out in Cardiff; all motivated at least in part by the need for a weekend escape from the banality and misery of their daily lives. Jip is suffering from sexual anxiety brought on by a series of unsuccessful liaisons.[8] Koop, Jip's best friend, is jealous of his girlfriend Nina's happy and care-free nature. Nina is being sexually harassed in a job she had no choice but to take after having failed a college interview. Lulu, Jip's best female friend and "dropping partner", has suffered infidelity in her last 3 relationships. Moff, the newest member of the group having met Jip at a warehouse party after moving from London to Cardiff, is an unemployed slacker who works as a small-time dealer, despite his father being a senior policeman. The five friends become very close, take drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine, and "live for the weekend".
The film follows the antics of the five friends as well as various characters they meet along the way. They go to pubs and clubs on Friday, taking along Nina's 17-year-old brother Lee whose waning enthusiasm for his first drugs experience is played out in a debate between Jip and a doctor. Jip gives up his ticket to Lulu, whom he has talked into coming out and is forced to talk his way into the club as the group are a ticket short. The club scene is then examined through a series of cameos including two attempts by older journalists to understand the club scene. The ensemble then joins a house party, where Lulu and Jip finally kiss and attempt unsuccessfully to make love; whereas the established couple, Koop and Nina, fight over Koop's perceptions about her behaviour. Later, as expected by the group, "what goes up must come down" sets in as the effects of their drug use begin to hit home leaving them coping with feelings of anxiety and paranoia. They recover Lee from a group of younger partygoers he has spent the night with and make their way home.
On returning home, some of the group's issues are mended whilst some are thrown into sharper relief. Jip makes love with Lulu, overcoming his sexual problems. Koop and Nina's argument is resolved. Lee has made it through the weekend without any of his concerns being realised. Moff, however, is still caught up in the paranoia caused by his extensive drug use. He argues with his parents again and is seen walking alone around Cardiff feeling depressed. However, Moff joins his friends for an end of the weekend drink and having raged about his obsession with drugs is soon joking about his addiction with his friends. The film finishes with Jip and Lulu kissing in the street.
Cast
- John Simm as Jip
- Lorraine Pilkington as Lulu
- Shaun Parkes as Koop
- Danny Dyer as Moff
- Nicola Reynolds as Nina
- Andrew Lincoln as Felix
- Dean Davies as Lee
- Richard Coyle as Andy
Cameo appearances
- When Jip first picks up Koop in his car, the DJ heard on the radio is Pete Tong, the film's musical adviser,[8] who has a weekly Friday night radio show on BBC Radio 1.[9]
- "Pablo Hassan", manager of the Asylum club, is played by prominent DJ Carl Cox.[1][10]
- Director Kerrigan appears in several scenes as "Ziggy Marlon", the Junglist dancer in Koop's record shop who asks, "Any jungle in, guy?", as an early aficionado of 'TomToms', the precursor to the Asylum club, (the main club venue for the film), and in a later scene driving with Nina's brother on their way to the house party, as well as several other brief appearances throughout the film. A deleted scene from the film also shows his character in a state of drug induced hysteria while he laughs for no apparent reason.[1]
- Stand-up comedian Jo Brand narrates the scene when Moff (Danny Dyer) is on the sofa hallucinating and losing touch with reality. She was previously a psychiatric nurse.[11]
- archive footage.[12]
- Mad Doctor X appears in the background during the Record Shop Scene.
Production
Concept
25 years old at the time,
Locations
Much of the film was shot in Cardiff, where the film also takes place. Nina's workplace, a fictionalised McDonald's, was filmed at UCI 12 Cinemas (Now an Odeon Cinema), Atlantic Wharf Leisure Village, Hemingway Road. The public house during the Friday night scene was shot at the Firedrake & Firkin Pub, 39–41 Salisbury Road, Cathays, Cardiff. The Emporium nightclub on Cardiff High Street was used as the exterior of the fictional "Asylum" club, and the former club X, Charles Street stood in as the interior. The Philharmonic public house on St Mary's Street is where the Sunday pub scene was filmed, and Jip and Lulu's Sunday night walk home was also filmed in St Mary's Street.[5]
Themes
Alienation
Inter-generation alienation is a significant theme of the film including being directly referenced in a pub scene in which the main, minor and bit players sing a revised version of the
Work and unemployment
The film is also indifferent to the work ethic. Jip works at a clothing retail outlet and is comedically represented as a 'wage slave'; particularly in a scene where he is shown being anally raped by his boss, who has a barcode on his forehead and forcibly covers Jip's mouth with a £20 note. Nina has similar misgivings about her job at a fast-food restaurant where all the employees are shown bodypopping robotically and she quits her work following sexual harassment. Moff argues with his father about preferring to be unemployed whilst Lulu is shown not enjoying her college experience.[1]
Drugs and the counter culture
All the characters identify strongly with the 1990s counter-culture: all are drug users to a greater or lesser extent; Jip idolises Bill Hicks; Koop dreams of being a DJ; Moff's bedroom is festooned with anti-establishment posters. Lulu gives an extended speech about her individuality whilst Nina revels in becoming unemployed.
Jip concludes his narration by saying "We're all fucked up in our own way, y'know, but we're all doing it together. We're freestylin' on the buckle wheel of life, trapped in a world of internal dialogue. Like Bill Hicks said: 'It's an insane world, but I'm proud to be part of it.'"
Although there is significant dialogue about drug use contained in the film (specifically
Reception
The film generated mixed reviews, garnering 59% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.[15] Film critic Colm Keaveny proclaimed this film to be Danny Dyer's "finest hour", and Irish critic James Murphy called Dyer's performance "truly remarkable". The film garnered 11 international awards and was nominated for a BAFTA.[4] Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half stars, describing it as "a writer's film if there ever was one".[16]
Soundtrack
An important part of this film is the soundtrack; which includes some of the most famous contemporary dance music producers of the time. These include
American version
The version of the film released in the United States was heavily edited to remove certain British cultural references and terminology that it was presumably felt American audiences would be unable to identify with or understand. These are mostly in the form of re-dubbed dialogue, such as Jip saying that he and Lulu "recently became dropping partners" being changed to "clubbing partners"; Nina's speech to the journalists in which she says she is looking forward to getting into some "hardcore
Other material was simply cut, including Lulu dumping her boyfriend; most of Koop's conversation with his father in the psychiatric hospital; and the 1991 "Summer of Love" flashback sequence. As a result of various cuts, the US version runs to 84m 14s, compared to the original 99m 21s, losing just over 15 minutes of footage, in addition to the numerous re-dubs. Certain scenes also feature different music from the original UK version.
Human Traffic Remixed
On 21 October 2002, distributors
Kerrigan only learnt about the project two weeks before the release was due.[17] He explained: "I joke about it. How I signed over the copyright (to Niblo) for a pound and then never even saw the pound. When I finished I was £25,000 in debt. I've never made a penny from the film. Legally I don't have a leg to stand on, but I signed the contract because I was very naive and very broke. Now I'm just broke." No longer able to afford living in London, where he had moved after the film's release, Kerrigan was preparing to return to his native Cardiff. Although shot on a budget of £340,000 and UK box office taking of £2.5 million, Niblo maintained that the film had not made a profit, stating: "the investment is still unrecouped." John Simm was highly critical of the new release, describing it as "cynical exploitation" and complained of Niblo's attempts to get him to appear in a sequel when he had only been paid a nominal fee for the first film. Simm said that he only appeared in Human Traffic because of Kerrigan's involvement.[4] While the original 99m 21s cinema version runs to 95m 21s on video[2] due to PAL speed-up, the Remixed version runs to 95m 30s[18]
See also
- Loved Up (1995 film), a BBC TV drama exploring clubbing and drug culture
- Go, a US film about rave culture released the same year
- Groove, a US film about rave culture released a year later
- Sorted, a UK film about trance culture released a year later
- South West 9, a UK drugs comedy
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Human Traffic DVD copyright Prism Leisure 2003 EAN: 5014293134552
- ^ a b "Human Traffic". British Board of Film Classification.
- ^ a b c d e f g Morris, Mark (16 May 1999). "Something for the weekend". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Brooks, Xan (18 October 2002). "The party's over". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2002. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ a b "Human Traffic film locations in Cardiff". Euro Film Sets. 15 October 2007. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
- ^ "Channel 4 (UK TV Station) Film Reviews". Retrieved 9 January 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "'Human Traffic' sequel confirmed and will be "a reaction to Brexit"". NME. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
- ^ a b c Hilditch, Nick (16 March 2001). "Human Traffic (1999)". BBC. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
- ^ "BBC Official Website – Pete Tong". Retrieved 9 January 2010.
- ^ "Carl Cox Official Website". Retrieved 9 January 2010.
- ^ "Author's Notes: Stand-up Jo Brand". Wales Online. 16 October 2009. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
- ^ a b Higginson, Tom (6 March 2021). "Looking Back at 'Human Traffic' 22 Years Later". The Movie Buff. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ^ "Howard Marks Official Website". Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ^ "History | documentary newport". Documentary Newport. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ "Human Traffic (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ISBN 978-1-101-10660-0.
- ^ "Human Traffic". kamera.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 May 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ^ "Human Traffic Remixed". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019.
External links
- Official website
- Human Traffic at IMDb
- Human Traffic at AllMovie