Human Traffic [1999] | ![Human Traffic [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MPW1CPPJL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Justin Kerrigan
Actors: Justin Kerrigan; Jan Anderson, John Simm, Andrew Lincoln, Lorraine Pilkington, Shaun Parkes
Studio: Prism Leisure Corporation
Category: DVD
List Price: £5.99
Buy Used: £1.05
You Save: £4.94 (82%)
New (18) Used (27) from £1.05
Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 3521
Format: Anamorphic, Colour, Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014293134552
ASIN: B00004D069
Theatrical Release Date: May 5, 2000
Release Date: April 14, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: This dvd is in good condition
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Five best friends, 48 hours and a bucketload of ecstasy pills make for an enjoyably lightweight slice of pop-cultural ephemera from debut director Justin Kerrigan. Cardiff is the city, and hardcore partying, clubbing and pubbing is on the menu as Jip (John Simm) and his renegade band of McJobbers clock off and head out for a weekend of debauchery. Among Jip's hedonistic posse are the cheeky cockney drug-dealer Moff (Danny Dyer), the terminally jealous boyfriend Koop (Shaun Parkes) and the bad-boy magnet Lulu (Lorraine Pilkington). And that's pretty much it. Our heroes meet in a pub, get drunk, take drugs, go to a club, then to a party, then home and then meet up in another pub, just in time for the closing credits. Along the way there's a shamefully lethargic attempt to establish character back-story: Jip is temporarily sexually impotent because his mother's a prostitute; Koop's father is institutionalised; Lulu has nasty boyfriends; and Moff has conservative parents. But generally Human Traffic is happier at the heart of the party, celebrating the intoxication of club culture--which it does in style. Kerrigan pulls out all the formal stops with an energetic melange of jump cuts, slo-mo, and speeded-up "smudge" motion camerawork. There's also direct addresses to camera, fantasy sequences and some self-conscious cameos from DJ Carl Cox and former-drug dealer Howard Marks, author of Mr Nice. Wall-to-wall music from the likes of Fatboy Slim, William Orbit and even Primal Scream help paste over the occasional cracks in the veneer, which include some particularly duff lines ("We're gonna get more spaced than Neil Armstrong ever did!") and a drawn analysis of drug references in Star Wars, a nod to the films of Kevin Smith, such as Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy. And if the whole project already feels dated and empty, well that's because it perfectly captures an essentially 1990s moment, and one gloriously empty weekend. --Kevin Maher
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
A remix too far... February 10, 2008
T. Patmore (Somewhere in Madagascar)
There are many reviews of the film, although few give any mention of this being a remix version. As someone who has seen both, I'd have to say that the remixed version adds very little and seems to just be a re-editing of the original with a different intro and a few different songs (e.g. 'Weak become Heroes' at the end)
Of course, being Human Traffic, it's well worth another watch (hence the four stars) and the extras are worth at least one viewing. However, there is no way this remix improves on it as all it adds of value is some deleted scenes which were rubbish anyway.
So, if you have seen Human Traffic + loved it, then this is worth a go. However, if you're just curious then try 'Go' 'Late Night shopping' or buy
the soundtrack if you haven't got it already...
 Awesome take on dance culture December 22, 2007
Anatole Branch (Now NY, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I completely loved this film, saw it again after a couple of years and think it gets better with age. Brilliantly shot, funny, wacky, witty, nuts dialog, good and bad of drugs, great damn music had me dancing in my chair...great take on post modern youth life, struggles, craziness, fun, drugs, music, connections, alienation, philosophy and even some male female bonding!! Funny film, wish I was less square in those days and did more of this stuff ... a inside view on some of the best of UK (welsh) youth clubbing reality.
 Very dated these days October 22, 2007
Turner (Powis Square)
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
I can remember watching this when it first came out and liking it what with being a weekender myself, prone to large nights out, debauched behaviour and a good times mission with like minded friends.
Fast forward 8 years and Human Traffic is shown on Film 4. Settle down to watch it and start to cringe with embarrassment at how dated it now looks and feels. The dialogue is clunky and annoying for starters. Does, or did, anyone really talk like that? Shouting clubbing cliche words down the phone at your mates, rambling on like a coke head even before you've hit the night out. Living for the weekend was and still is a great British pastime but thank God I don't have mates like this lot. Having a pre-club warm up beer in your local and talking about music you hate as part of some bonding session, oh deary me! It just comes across as a bad attempt at being cool. Trying far too hard to capture the incredible highs of a brief period in time but at least it was brave enough to show the inevitable downside as well.
Suffice to say I didn't watch the whole film again. Best left on the shelf along with the likes of This Life and other 'cool Britania' relics.
Watching something like the clubbing episode in Spaced is far more entertaining and real, and a lot more funnier.
JUSTIN KARRIGAN HITS GOLD October 15, 2007
stuart (MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Justin Kerrigan - this time you've really done it. Human Traffic is going to upset the majority of film critics who will view the lack of plot, the drug induced dialogue and the futile outlook on Nineties Youth culture as a miserable and desperate view of how weekends are spent by ravers and clubheads across the UK. Moreover, they will spot camera work borrowed from Boogie Nights and even try and associate the whole film with 'Trainspotting' theme (because, lets face it, a Scottish Heroin addict trying to clean up his act and a Welsh clubber looking for a good time with his mates is pretty much the same thing, right?)
Well wrong. Human Traffic has landed - along with one and a half quality hours of clubs, drugs, pubs and parties - and its time to leave behind your preconceptions of what a film should be like (where's the plot? I want a plot!) and instead delve into the lives of Jip (John Simm) and his mates, Nina (Nicola Reynolds), Koop (Shaun Parkes), Lulu (Lorraine Pilkington) and Moff (Danny Dyer). There's nothing special about these five friends; they're just hanging out together and showing you the way they lead their lives. They are not Burger King. They certainly don't do it your way. And you don't like it - well, tough.
Because essentially this period piece has captured everything that Nineties youth culture is revolving around. There are no clear solutions, in fact very few problems in the first place. At the end of the day, what Jip and his friends are doing is living and who are we to know or comment on anything different? They drink, smoke dope, pop pills and party; they know the risks and they're prepared to take them and moralists will just have to sit back and (try to) enjoy the ride.
The sound track is terrific and accompanies the highs and lows of the 48 hour weekend and the events that take place in it. But within this, what first appears to be social unity, we see traces of individual isolation that are easy to bypass in a culture of hedonism. Jips paranoia of sex, Koops jealous possession of Nina and Moff as his drug habit digs him deeper into his own hole and further away from his family, asks the question 'are things really this good?' However they will not be exaggerated to the extent that they are conspicuous, giving the film a controversial stance on drugs and the role in social integration. Kerrigan is pulling no punches. And why should he? This isn't GO! or any other such American rave film with clear cut margins and please-the-crowd conclusions - it is one that forces us to question whilst at the same time enjoy the at times hilarious, touching and other times exciting events of 48 hours with a group of five 'friends'.
And for the die-hard British youth among you, this might not be reality - but it's a bloody brave effort at depicting it.
Great October 7, 2007
Mr. D. L. Selwood
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Somewhere between the cheery comedic teen angst of a Brat Pack movie and the stylishly dingy, drug-ravaged night life of "Trainspotting," you'll find the fresh-faced, fun-loving, Ecstasy-dropping, Welsh weekend warriors that populate the party-hardy world of "Human Traffic."
A capricious and energetic, rave-flavored tour through a bouncy Friday-Saturday-Sunday of dance and romance in the lives of five club-hopping pals on the cusp of their 20s, this lightweight snapshot of edgy Y2K youth culture has nothing new to say about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll -- but it says that nothing with irresistibly enthusiastic effervescence.
The story is narrated with hyperactive chirp by Jip (John Simms), a soft-featured Tim Roth look-alike who blows off steam from his weekdays in retail hell by getting squiffy with his mates and dancing the night away.
His entourage includes his best gal pal Lulu (Lorraine Pilkington), a tangy "full-on club minx" with a mane of out-of-control curls and a secret jones for Jip; aimless stoner Moff (Danny Dyer); African-Anglo Koop (Shaun Parkes), a spastic record store DJ with a jealous streak; and Koop's flirty girlfriend Nina (Nicola Reynolds), who bolts from her McJob in a fantasy-embellished early scene that sets the movie's anti-establishment mood.
Written and directed by 25-year-old Justin Kerrigan, a recent Welsh film school grad who has won a handful of festival awards, "Human Traffic" accompanies this group from their day jobs (hate them!) through their club-hopping nights in a style that apes from a dozen sources (notably, "Trainspotting" and early MTV) without feeling unoriginal.
The plot is simple stuff -- each character has some banal comedic conflict (Jip is experiencing sexual performance problems, Lulu is convinced she's a schmuck magnet, etc.) easily resolved through their memorable weekend of youthful excess (ecstasy is unabashedly endorsed). But that hardly matters because "Human Traffic" isn't about story, per se. It's about capturing that all-too-brief moment of devil-may-care lifestyle that people remember forever as the best time of their lives.
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