From the May 11 – May 17, 2000 issue

Film

Arc of a Weekend

Fifteen Minutes of Revelation

by Sean Nelson

HUMAN TRAFFIC is a fast-paced but stupefyingly boring movie about one weekend in the life of five British teenagers who like to take Ecstasy, reference American pop culture, and go dancing. Though the film plays like Trainspotting-lite and panders shamelessly to a "generation"-minded audience, writer/director Justin Kerrigan -- who based the script on his real-life mates -- finds a few scenes that capture the unadorned tenderness of friendship. The morning after a wild party, the main character wakes his friend, and they linger in the bedroom, just smiling at each other before breaking into their familiar slang-speak. It's a moment right out of John Ford, except John Wayne never called Gabby Hayes a "bitch."

Such quiet instances make it difficult to hate the film, despite its fashionable conceit, its au courant soundtrack, its complete lack of conflict, and its U.K.-exclusive appeal. Though I found little charm in watching a pack of limey slackers blowing off steam, I didn't experience the rage factor that usually ensues from films that try to "tell it like it is." Ultimately, Human Traffic's dramatic arc is the literal, temporal arc of a weekend: Friday's setup rises to a Saturday climax, which coalesces into a Sunday dénouement. Stripped of the hipster swagger, that's an interesting hook to hang a movie on.

When I sat down with Kerrigan -- who is young, good-looking, smart, and stylish -- he was similarly free from pretense. No promotional braggadocio, no generational chauvinism. He just made this little movie (apparently a smash hit in Europe) about his friends, and there you have it. I asked him if, as the press kit claimed, "the characters' chain of adventures leads them to important discoveries and a new outlook." His response was admirably casual.

"It's a weekend, man," he laughed. "I mean, how much do you discover in a weekend?"