Human Traffic - The Night Is Not Enough - Blu-Ray

Movie: Cardiff, late 90s: Jip (John Simm) and his friends Koop (Shaun Parkes), Nina (Nicola Reynolds), Lulee (Lorraine Pilkington) and Moff (Danny Dyer) are trapped in their boring jobs day after day. But on Fridays, they finally get to break out of their dreary routine. Then they make the clubs of the city unsafe, lose themselves in music, alcohol, drugs and sex - or at least the desire for it. For 48 hours they can escape the world. But as we all know, every emotional high is followed by a deep fall. But this weekend everything will be completely different in the end...

Human Traffic takes a humorous look at the club scene of Cardiffe in the 90s, interspersed with small dramatic moments, and tries to capture the attitude towards life of a generation caught somewhere between an ambitious spirit of optimism and a social lack of perspective. In doing so, director Justin Kerrigan clearly draws on other successful independent productions of the 1990s, such as Kevin Smith's Clerks, whereby he doesn't even try to hide the reference to such films, but even underlines it with posters on the protagonists' walls. However, his film only succeeds to a limited extent to reach the class of the role models he obviously holds in high esteem.

There are undoubtedly some quite wonderful moments, such as the scene in which Jip imagines lightening the somewhat tense mood in the pub by singing a new variation of the national anthem, or a dialogue between Moff and a rather drugged-up buddy (Richard Cole, who later became known in Germany as well through the series Coupling) about why some STAR WARS characters are obviously drug addicts. Also the imaginary conversation between Jip and an acquaintance (Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead) about what they actually think of each other is really amusing and clever. Jip's fear that he might be impotent, Koop's dream of becoming a DJ, and the friendship between Jip and Lulee, which increasingly turns into romance, also make for some very nice moments.

However, the successful scenes are also repeatedly followed by a few weaker moments or overly strained and therefore somewhat cramped gags, resulting in a somewhat unbalanced overall picture in the end. Human Traffic is amusing and somehow charming, but the feeling remains that there could have been a lot more potential in this movie and that it sometimes believes to be a bit more clever than it actually is. But this weak point is made up for by the likeable actors like John Simm (Life on Mars) or the a little bit overdone acting Danny Dyer.

So in the end Kerrigan's film is despite some weak points a nice and amusing piece of British independent cinema of the late 1990s, a comedy that in the end shows a lot of heart and has some great dialogues to offer. And that's exactly why the film is, on balance, well worth watching!

Image + Sound: Even though the film has been digitally remastered for its Blu-ray release and given a new DTS-HD Master Audio mix, don't expect an audio-visual revelation here. The image exhibits some noticeable blurring, and especially in the darker scenes, there is occasionally heavy image noise and trickling. The sound only has a few minor surround effects through the music, as the dialogue is nevertheless very centrally mixed.

Extras: Unfortunately, the only bonus features are the trailer for the film and further programme tips. A shame - especially as the UK DVD has quite a few extras to offer.

Conclusion: Human Traffic is an entertaining look at the Cardiffe club scene in the 90s, at the attitude to life of young people who feel trapped in a certain lack of perspective, and at the changing nature of friendships in times of great personal change. It's a lot of fun for long stretches, even if not every scene works and at times there's a feeling that the film would like to be cleverer than it ultimately is. But overall, the film is a nice piece of British independent cinema that falls short on Blu-ray, both technically and in terms of extras. Nevertheless, also due to the low price, the bottom line is a: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp