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The Retreat: Blood and Justice in the Woods

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Is there anything scarier than hatred and bigotry?

In new horror/thriller The Retreat, Renee (Tommie-Amber Pine) and Valerie (Sarah Allen) are a young couple who venture off into the wilderness for some secluded romance. With their relationship hitting a crossroads, the two women hope that this weekend in a remote cabin will provide the spark that they need to move forward together. However, as they attempt to navigate their issues, they are terrified to realize that their lives are in peril. Hunted by a group of para-military extremists, Renee and Valerie must put their relationship woes aside and fight in order to escape with their lives.

Directed by Pat Mills, The Retreat is solid horror fun that blends its terror with social commentary. Though only 81 minutes in length, Mills makes good use of her runtime. By keeping the exposition to a minimum, Mills keeps this story locked into the moment. In doing so, she manages to keep the film focused and energetic. At the same time, the film also benefits from some solid performances from its cast. With some enjoyable chemistry, Pine and Allen hold the film together. With energy and enthusiasm, the duo work well and their relationship serves as the film’s emotional core. 

As the film’s villains, Rossif Sutherland and Aaron Ashmore invest themselves into their characters, giving them an unyielding menace. Admittedly, it’s a little frustrating that talents like Sutherland and Ashmore are relegated to such one-dimensional characters. However, that’s also necessary in this case. These particular monsters are not meant to have any redeemable qualities in them and fleshing them out may have made them more sympathetic than they are supposed to be. 

Though light on ‘jump scares’, The Retreat‘s greatest asset is its social commentary. Following in the tradition of recent thrillers like Get Out and The Invisible Man, The Retreat uses its scares to highlight the pain caused by bigotry and hatred. However, instead of issues of racial discrimination or feminism, Mills chooses to focus on intolerance of the LGBTQ community. (In fact, it’s worth noting that The Retreat also serves as an opportunity to break free from the ‘bury your gays’ trope that often happens in genre movies such as this.) 

As Renee and Valerie venture out for a weekend of romance, this secluded retreat becomes a metaphor for the vulnerability that still take place when members of the LGBTQ community step out into the light. To their attackers, Renee and Valerie’s relationship is perceived as a threat to their more conservative way of life and that breeds into hatred. With this in mind, there’s a cry of hurt and anger that underscores the film and adds depth to its meaning. While they battle the evil around them, they show their resilience and strength in a place of oppression. As such, their journey becomes about much more than simply getting free from their captors. In essence, as Renee and Valerie fight for their lives, so too are they fighting for the right to be themselves. 

As the credits roll, The Retreat has accomplished its goal as pure horror fun. Filled with the required blood-thirsty villains and violence, the film makes for an evening of enjoyable entertainment. Nevertheless, the real value of the film lies in the statement that it makes. By giving voice to the LGBTQ community in the face of oppression, The Retreat feels as much of a claim to hope as it does a cry for help. By using Renee and Valerie’s struggle to survive as a metaphor for the resilience of the LGBTQ community, the film shows the damage incurred by the hatred of others and the strength needed to overcome it.

The Retreat is available on VOD on Friday, May 21st, 2021.

Sunday at AFIFest2020

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As AFIFest Presented by Audi continues to unfold, each day new films are being opened for viewing. During normal years, most films would play a couple times during the week. That challenge was to find the day and time that you could fit things. This year, I get to pick and choose the order I see films in each day. The lack of a rigid schedule is a plus for having a virtual festival. On the negative side, you don’t get to hear people saying how good something was so you can add it to your list to see.

Writen and directed by David Carbonier and Justin Powell, The Boy Behind the Door is a taut thriller. It is the kind of film that might, in normal years, be presented in a selections of Midnight films. Bobby and Kevin are best friends and dream of growing up to head off to someplace different from their home. They dream of California. But then the two boys are kidnapped. Bobby manages to escape, but he cannot leave Kevin behind. He is soon playing a cat-and-mouse game with the kidnappers as he tries to locate and free his friend. The film maintains a constant tension, with a few moments that make you jump. There is a fair bit of blood and violence, which for some people would be a plus, for others a turn-off. Bobby is the more resourceful of the boys, but he must also rely on Kevin for them to succeed. When one needs the other, these friends will do whatever is needed to save the other.

Japan’s Under the Open Sky, directed by Miwa Nishikawa, tells us of a man who, after spending the last 13 years in prison, is trying to adjust to the outside world. Masao Mikami has served his sentence for murder and returns to society. He vows that this time he will go straight. A lawyer serves as his sponsor and helps him get set up with welfare and a place to live. Mikami wants to make his own way, but there are challenges for an ex-con trying to find work. He is contacted by Tsunoda, a TV director, who is interested in helping him find his mother, who abandoned him as a child. The producer of the story wants something more interesting—using his gangster background to set him up to fail. Mikami was known as a brawler and has trouble keeping his temper in check. But he also manages to collect a group of people who care about him and help him find the chance of success in the outside world.

The dangers of recidivism as common for those who are released from prison. If they do not have access to jobs and help, the life of crime seems like an obvious choice. Tsunoda wants to write about Mikami as “an ordinary man” The world may not pay much attention to ordinary people, but for Mikami to fit into the role might actually be extraordinary.

(L-R) Paul Bettany as “Frank,” Sophia Lillis as “Beth,” and Peter Macdissi as “Wally” in UNCLE FRANK Photo: Brownie Harris/Amazon Studios

Family can be the source of pain or healing—and often both. In Allan Ball’s Uncle Frank, Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) has grown up in rural South Carolina, where she doesn’t really feel like she fits in. On the rare occasions that her Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) visits from New York City, she is drawn to how different he is from her family. He counsels her to be who she wants to be, not who others tell her she is. She heads to New York for college, and to get to know Frank better. Crashing a party at Frank’s home, she discovers that he is gay. His partner Walid (Peter Macdissi) is the embodiment of kindness.

When Frank’s father dies suddenly, Frank and Beth drive together to the funeral. Walid follows separately because Frank doesn’t want the family to know about him. The three of them will have to face many of the pains of Frank’s past, especially after he is involuntarily outed. Those demons include a sense of guilt about who he is, which has led him to live with his self-loathing all these years. The film is set in 1973 when such closeting was even more prevalent than it is now. Frank’s advice to Beth to be who she wants to be was much harder for him to live out himself.

Centigrade – Cold Days in Hell

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Brendan Walsh’s film Centigrade takes place almost entirely within the confines of an SUV. As a young couple battles for survival, they must deal as much with their personal dynamics as with the problems they face.

Naomi (Genesis Rodriguez) and Matt (Vincent Piazza) are an American couple traveling in Norway. While on an isolated road, they pull over during a blizzard. When they wake up, the car is completely covered and surrounded by layers of snow and ice. What is the best plan? Should they try to dig themselves out? What will they find outside in a world where the temperature can get to be -30C? Should they wait inside the car, hoping they will be found? And to complicate things, Naomi is eight months pregnant.

The couple faces times of panic, of depression, of desperation, and even triumph. They often come into conflict when they disagree on how they should proceed. The time they spend so close together with no escape begins to wear on their relationship. Secrets and hidden feelings come out. But it is also very clear that they each have to rely on the other in order to survive.

They are not survivalists. They are people very much like us. And I have to admit that in their frustrations I sometimes heard my own voice. Although being somewhat isolated as we all have been during the pandemic is not as dire a situation as is shown in this film, the same kind of feelings probably are affecting our relationships with loved ones. Words that cause pain may come out and not be able to be taken back easily. But the bonds that hold us together can also be strengthened by our trials.

I find it interesting that this film is being released in drive-ins. Viewers will have an excellent sense of the confinement the characters must deal with. (Although, to truly appreciate it, you would have to not make any trips to the snack bar and restroom.)

Centigrade is playing at drive-in theaters and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of IFC Midnight.

Serenity: Murder and Justice in the Open Water

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Living on an isolated tropical island, Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a fishing boat captain who lives a peaceful life on Plymouth Island, an isolated island in the Carribbean. However, his world is soon shattered when his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) tracks him down and, desperate for help, begs Baker to rescue her and their young son from her abusive husband, Frank (Jason Clarke). Offering Dill $10M to feed her husband to the sharks in the open water, Karen pleads with him to take on the job. Thrust back into a life that he wanted to forget, Baker now finds himself struggling to choose between right and wrong.

Although the film is fairly uneven—not to mention the wildest twist you can imagine—there are enough things to like about Serenity for those who are game. Directed by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Eastern Promises), Serenity is a neo-noir film laced with sci-fi sensibilities. (No spoilers.) Set on the isolated island in the Caribbean, Knight drops the audience into a steamy world of sex and betrayal. Using bleached colours and shadowy frames, the world is lush in vegetation yet colours bleed together, resulting in a bleak and lifeless atmosphere. Working together for the first time since Intersteller, McConaughey and Hathaway work well with one another, even at times when the material is lacking.

As with many examples of noir, one of the most interesting aspects of the film is its conflicted moral compass. Lost in his own pain and alone, Dill lives in poverty in a repurposed metal shack. His boat is owned by the bank and he can barely pay his first mate. He spends his days chasing his own ‘white whale’, a mysterious giant tuna that constantly escapes him. Named ‘Justice’, the tune is symbolic of the very justice that seems to elude him as he moves from day to day looking for hope to no avail. Though the island is beautiful, what begins as an Edenic paradise soon reveals itself to be anything but. (Case and point: The local tavern bar even changed its name from the ‘Hope and Anchor’ to the ‘Rope and Anchor’, citing that there isn’t much hope on the island.)

Still, in the midst of this dry moral time, Dill refuses to bend to Karen’s request. Despite the lawlessness of the area, Dill believes that there is something fundamentally wrong with the idea of killing anyone, no matter how hateful her husband may be. To him , there remains a dichotomy to life – light and dark, right and wrong – that continues to stand, even in the midst of a world of compromise. Inspired by the chance to be a father to his son, Dill fights hard against the pressures of the culture, even asking his first mate to ‘keep him from temptation’.

Even so, there is a sense of inevitability in Serenity that evil is constantly creeping in the background, waiting to strike. Can a man continue to try to be the man he wants to be, even when there is constant pressure to fall? Or does succumbing to our base impulses bring the justice that we’re looking for? These are ambitious questions for a film like Serenity and, without spoiling anything, the film’s twist reveals that this is also an ambitious film (perhaps tooambitious in that regard). Still, for those who are willing to take the ride and interested in the questions, Serenityis potentially intriguing enough to take the trip, despite its flaws.

Serenity is in theatres now.

Everybody Knows – Disclosing Open Secrets

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In Everybody Knows, director Asghar Farhadi leaves Iranian stresses behind (cf., A Separation, The Past, and The Salesman) for a more Eurocentric story. His previous films focus on people dealing with the tensions between two cultures. This film is a more conventional story, which although it is adequately done, doesn’t have the same thought-provoking quality of his earlier work.

Laura (Penélope Cruz) has returned to her hometown in Spain from Argentina with her two children for a family wedding. It is a time of joyous reunions. She and her children reacquaint themselves with family and friends. Perhaps her teenage daughter Irene is attracted to one of the local boys, but it’s all seems fairly innocent. It also seems fairly innocent that her former lover Paco (Javier Bardem) is a close family friend and part of the wedding preparations. Both Paco and Laura are both happily married, but their past will never go away.

Penélope Cruz stars as Laura and Javier Bardem as Paco in Asghar Farhadi’s EVERYBODY KNOWS, a Focus Features release.Credit: Teresa Isasi/Focus Features

The film takes its time setting this joyous and celebrative mood. The possibilities of romance hang in the air, but suddenly it all changes. During the wedding reception, Irene doesn’t feel good and goes to her room. When Laura goes to look in on her, the door is locked, and when they finally get it open, she is gone. Soon there is a message from kidnappers warning them not to tell the police. Is this a professional job or has it been done by someone close?

The family struggles to come up with the ransom. It is assumed that Laura’s husband has the money, but they have fallen on hard times. Paco starts rumors that he might sell his wine business, to make it seem that he might pay the ransom. But that brings up old wounds between him and Laura’s family over how he came to own the land. In time more secrets and old grievances will come to light. And often, as the title suggests, these are rather open secrets.

Although it fits into the thriller genre, it’s not the kind of film that gives viewers a bump in adrenaline. Rather the tensions are more personal. It is more about how each person faces the situation. Laura frets and has a hard time coping or making decisions. Paco takes action, but seems to be a bit more invested than one might expect from an old flame. Laura’s husband Alejandro (Ricardo Darín) continues to believe that God will help. That stance of faith seems to be escapist, but it reflects his experience of God’s help in his life. But it may also block him from accepting help that may come from others. (Can’t God help through other people?)

The film never quite fully explores the tensions between characters. That has been Farhadi’s strength in previous films. So what we get may work at a basic level, but doesn’t deliver the kind of experience those who know his work will expect.

Widows: When Lionesses Roar

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What happens when those that are left behind are forced to clean up the mess of those that have left us?

Directed by Steve McQueen, Widows tells the story of a police shootout that leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows — Veronica (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo) — have nothing in common except a debt left behind by their spouses’ criminal activities. Hoping to forge a future on their own terms, Veronica joins forces with the other three women to pull off a heist that her husband was planning.

Though Oscar-winner McQueen is best known for slower paced dramatic fare such as 12 Years A Slave or Shame, he brings a surprising depth to a film which could otherwise dwell in the sub-basement of pulp action films. Co-writing the script with acclaimed author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), McQueen’s thriller proves to be both gripping and engaging from the outset. Though on paper some may liken the film to this year’s ‘other female heist film’, Ocean’s 8, thankfully the comparisons end there. Widows is a smart, energetic thriller that makes use of an extremely talented cast led with ferocity by Oscar-winner, Viola Davis.

A tight, well-written thrill ride, what is most interesting about a film such as Widows is where it falls in the cultural spectrum. As female-led films have finally begun to be recognized for their success, there seems to have been a theme building momentum where women are encouraged to ‘find their voice’. Recent films such as A Star is Born, The Hate U Give to, yes, Ocean’s 8 have all provided opportunity for women to offer their stories in a male-driven culture. However, if these films serve as cries from the desert, Widows roars like a proud lioness. There is a beautiful but wild energy permeating Widows that reveals the strength, courage and power that women can wield when caught in a world dominated by male-oppression. When we first meet our leads, their identities are tied closely to the men that they love (especially Veronica). However, when threatened by mob boss Jamal Manning to recover the money that their husbands stole from him, they are forced to learn who they are apart from their spouses.

As a result, there is a complexity to these women as they both grieve the loss of their loved ones yet also begin to step out into the light and discover who they are.

From Davis to Debicki (in what may be her breakout role), each female character finds different ways to stand-up against the emotional and physical barriers that have been placed on them by men misusing their power and authority. (With this in mind, it’s no accident that Davis’ Veronica growls that ‘no one thinks [they] have the balls to pull this off.’) Although they find themselves trapped in a ‘man’s game’, these widows prove that their identity and inner strength aren’t decided by a man’s world.

Armed with a whip-smart script and excellent cast, Widows is a film that will surprise you with its depth and emotional punch. Though more popcorn flick than Oscar-fare, the film shows the power of discovering who you are when you’re forced to start over.

Widows is in theatres now.

Searching: Life and Death Online

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Think of how much time we spend looking at screens. I’m looking at one (with various windows open) as I write this review. You’re reading it on a screen. We work and play and often socialize through the many screens of our lives. Searching tells us its story through these screens. To use such a gimmick can be a distraction or even a way of covering up shortcomings. But in Searching it becomes a vital part of the story and of the social commentary the film is making.

The film opens with the setting up of a new computer and adding photos that outline the life of the Kim family. It brings us up to the current day where David Kim (John Cho) and his daughter Margot (Michelle La) live in Silicon Valley. We catch their texting pack and forth, typical parent/teen conversations. But when Margot doesn’t come home one night and doesn’t answer texts or calls, David becomes worried. At first there are possible simple explanations, but eventually he must call in the police. While Detective Vick (Debra Messing) oversees the police investigation, David begins hacking into Margot’s laptop, searching for clues and leads. Everything that we see on the movie screen are things that are taking place on computer, phone, or TV screens.

As the story plays out we get a minor guided tour of the internet, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest, Facetime, and a range of other apps. To some extent this plays up the gimmicky side of the film. But it also serves as an effective way to organize this thriller with increasing tension. And the use of social media is an essential part of the thriller. And it is a rollercoaster ride of a thriller with the ups and downs, twists and turn in the last half hour especially enjoyable.

Where this becomes more than just a gimmick is how the film serves to reflect our culture and the way we live so much of our lives—whether actively or passively—online. Our screens are our archives. The screens hold our secrets. The screens give us access to a broad world. The screens also make us vulnerable. There are ways in which the screens that fill our lives make us voyeurs—looking at the world from the outside. But the screens also give us a way to discover and connect people and place in ways both positive and negative. The potential of our screens, however, really rely not in what we watch, but in how we choose to engage them. That is the lesson that underlies the thriller aspect of Searching.

Photo Credits: Sebastian Baron, Elizabeth Kitchens. ©2018 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

Operation Finale – Capturing a War Criminal

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“We’re all animals fighting for scraps on the Serengeti.”

One of the most celebrated trials of the twentieth century was when Israel put Adolph Eichmann on trial. Eichmann headed the SS Office for Jewish Affairs and was one of the key architects of the Holocaust. But before they could put him on trial, they had to find him and get him to Israel. Operation Finale is the Mission Impossible style account his capture.

In 1960, Eichmann (Sir Ben Kingsley) is living with his family under an assumed name in Argentina. There is a community of Nazi supporters there, including many in the Catholic Church. When a young Jewish girl connects that this person is Eichmann, word gets to Israel. In the past Israel has looked for Eichmann to assassinate him, but now the government wants him captured to be put on trial for his crimes. A select group of Mossad (intelligence) and Shin Bet (security) agents develop a daring and dangerous plan to capture him and smuggle him out of the country on a special El Al plane.

Among the Israelis on this team is Peter Malkin (Oscar Issac). Malkin had taken part in an earlier assassination attempt that targeted the wrong man. As the plan develops, Malkin is the man who actually grabs Eichamnn just a few yards from his house. But after the capture things get complicated. The team is now told that they must get Eichmann to sign a document saying he agrees to be tried in Israel. At the same time, the right-wing Argentine security forces begin the hunt to rescue Eichmann.

As the time for the getaway draws near, Eichmann is understandably reluctant to cooperate. He says he should be tried in Germany. He says he could never get a fair trial in Israel. Only one person on the team was to negotiate with Eichmann, but when no progress was made, Malkin offered a different approach. Over a period of days Malkin and Eichmann discuss the realities of war, of nationalism, of human nature. Finally, Eichmann agrees, but they must still get him out of the country before being found.

Much of the film is a thriller—both the plan to capture Eichmann and the cat-and-mouse game between the Israelis and Argentinians. But what elevates this over other such films is the near philosophical discussion between Malkin and Eichmann. Both men have agendas that they bring to this dialogue, but in their back-and-forth they move each other to deeper levels of understanding. Eichmann strives to manipulate Malkin by pushing him on a personal level.

That seems to be a major difference between the two men. For Malkin (and the other Israelis) this is something that touches their lives. All had lost people in the Holocaust. For Eichmann it is about massive numbers. There is a sense in which 6 million Jews may overwhelm us, but there is more power in the knowledge of a single person we know. Eichmann did not know those whose death he oversaw. They were annoyances to be exterminated.

The actual trial of Eichmann is something of an anti-climax in the film. It is shown briefly, but the real testimony of the film is in these scenes of speaking about victims, justification, and our common human nature.

While the film doesn’t accept Eichmann’s rationalizations for his crimes, it does show him to be a man who cared for his family and his country, just as Malkin and the other Israelis cared for their families and nation. It is this humanizing factor that serves to point out the basis for all of Eichmann’s sins in the Holocaust—the failure to see that humanity in others.

Photos courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

Traffik: Blinded by the Light

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“We have a moral obligation to tell the whole story.” – Brea (TRAFFIK)

Written and directed by Deon Taylor, Traffik tells the story of Brea (Paula Patton), a struggling journalist looking for a big story. When she and her boyfriend John (Omar Epps) travel to the mountains for a romantic weekend, they are confronted by a group of men on motorcycles. When they reach their destination, they realize that they have come into the possession of a cell phone which is of vital importance to a group of sex traffickers, which the bikers are desperate to retrieve.

Roselyn Sanchez, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso and Omar Epps star in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

Inspired by a warning from his daughter’s school, Traffik is clearly a personal project for Taylor. Through his research for the film, he claims that his eyes were opened to the dangerous, unseen underbelly of the world around him in a way that deepens the film’s impact. Through its use of lighting and cinematography, Traffikcreates an otherworldly dichotomy without leaving reality. In essence, the most terrifying thing about the film is that it feelsreal. While one might question his decision to utilize the thriller genre as opposed to a more documentary structure, the film benefits from the urgency within the narrative tone.

By keeping locations tight and shadows ominous, Taylor manages to create tension and fear in the midst of the everyday, without creating overblown villains or extravagant set pieces.With Taylor’s decision to create ‘two films in one’, one of the most engaging parts of the script also seems to work against its success. Whereas the second half of the film feels urgent and grounded, the film’s first half struggles to feel relevant. Somewhat ironically, that seems to be the point. Taylor’s vision for the film seeks to point out that the harsh realities of trafficking do, in fact, offset the excesses of modern life. However, the amount of screen time invested in Brea and John’s relationship inadvertently slows down what ultimately becomes a satisfying ride.

Omar Epps and Paula Patton star in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

Peeling back the assumptions we have about our world, Traffik is a powerful reminder of how we allow ourselves to be blinded simply by our own disinterest. By shining a light of truth up to the world, the film reminds us that there remains shadows in the corners of our own neighborhoods to which we are blissfully unaware. More than a simple ‘thrill ride’, Traffik is a calling to expose the evils of our world with the light of truth. Like Brea and John, we too can find ourselves obsessed with our own success and well-being, ignoring the darkness for fear of discomfort. As a result, Traffik invites us to open our eyes to the realities that we choose to ignore in an effort to bring justice to the oppressed. As God views every life as valuable as reflections of His image, so too does a film like this call us to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.

Paula Patton stars in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

Unafraid to delve into the realities of human trafficking, writer/director Deon Taylor grounds the film in a world that seems so familiar but seems terrifyingly foreign at the same time. In many ways, you can hear his voice through the character of Brea as she explains her “moral obligation to tell the whole story”. In the end, it’s this attitude of responsibility that gives Traffik its power as well.

 

Traffik is in theatres now.

Stopping TRAFFIK: 1on1 with Deon Taylor (writer/director, TRAFFIK)

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In his latest film, Traffik, writer/director Deon Taylor tells the story of Brea (Paula Patton), a struggling journalist looking for a big story. When she and her boyfriend John (Omar Epps) travel to the mountains for a romantic weekend, they are confronted by a group of men on motorcycles. When they reach their destination, they realize that they have come into the possession of a cell phone which is of vital importance to a group of sex traffickers, which the bikers are desperate to retrieve. Admittedly, Taylor never imagined that he would be involved in bringing a film like this to the screen. However, when a letter from his daughter’s school opened his eyes, he found that the reality of industry was right in front of him..

“I never thought in a million years and then I will be doing a movie called Traffik,” he begins, “especially just as an African American male director. It just probably wasn’t going to be in the cards for me. What happened was that my daughter’s school sent this email to me one day and it said to be careful, dropping your kids off at the local mall because kids are being trafficked there. I was just blown away because you’ve seen it all right? Like, we’ve seen guns. You get letters about everything now. Bomb threats, etc. But that was the first time for me, you know what I mean?”

Stunned by the letter, Taylor began to explore the issue of trafficking more thoroughly. After doing some research, he found that the problem was far more prevalent than he’d once believed.

Roselyn Sanchez, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso and Omar Epps star in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

“Obviously, as a dad, I just was kind of blown away by this,” Taylor insists. “I originally though that it doesn’t apply to us because, well, we’re black and maybe that’s not what’s happening. Then I was blown away, man. I went online and googled it and started looking at trafficking and trafficking in my area and I was just surprised to see hundreds and hundreds of cases, even kids in local communities around me that had been trafficked and escaped. Then, I just kept reading and finding out that this was a much bigger domestic problem that I ever imagined in my life. Here I am thinking that this is an international thing. It’s not about here or that’s not for African American kids [that] what I thought was wrong. 62 percent of African American women are leading the charge of being trafficked domestically, followed by Latinos and underserved markets.”

As a result of his findings, Taylor found that his eyes were quickly opened to the widespread problem to which he had been blissfully unaware.“Everything that I had thought was not what it was supposed to be,” he reiterates. “I was gearing up to write something else and this just stayed with me. It’s the thought of it that haunted me. I became engulfed in reading the headlines based on the true stories about people escaping and didn’t escape and eventually I wrote the film, we did it and here we are. Just like that, in a blink of an eye, every time I watched CNN, I see it on the ticker tape. Every time I’ve watched the local news, it’s there. [And I thought], has it been here this whole time? I just didn’t know? And that’s when it really just kind of grabbed me.”

Though the topic of human trafficking is usually associated with the documentary format, Taylor intentionally sought to do something different with Traffik. A huge fan of the thriller genre, it was his belief that, by utilizing that format for his film, he would be able to educate through entertainment.

Omar Epps and Paula Patton star in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

“I had already been a really big fan of The Vanishing. I just kind of was playing around with the idea [of making a thriller] and I just said I’m going to write this,” he claims. “I’m just going to take the chance to make a movie with this as the backdrop to see if, not only can we create a thriller around it but then at the same time, really figure out a way to educate a younger audience, [especially] African American audiences, or Latino audiences. We can wrap the peel around candy and let them take it this way.”

Nevertheless, Taylor also insists that his use of the thriller format in no way sacrifices his commitment to the realities of the problem.

“What I tried to do on the film was to make the trafficking part is true to form as possible,” he states, “like in terms of how you’re attracting the needles, dirty shot, the transportation, holding people in holding areas, not wanting to speak to anyone in public when you are released. I just tried to find the real beats. I’m really proud of the film, man.“

One of the key elements to the narrative lies in the fact that it presents itself as almost two separate films. By opening the film with the sensibilities of a modern romantic drama, the film eventually veers into the dark and dangerous world below. For Taylor, the key element in bringing this atmosphere lay in his cinematographer, Dante Spinotti.

“The movie was built that way. The idea behind this was a lot of different factors to allow you to feel that [the film splits in two tones]. One was, you know, obviously having Dante Spinotti as our cinematographer, from LA Confidential. He is probably one of the best to ever light anything like, and we wanted to create a world to where the movie when from a fun loving, kind of loose-based thriller into where it turned into what I’m going to [compare to] a car crash.”

Paula Patton stars in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

With an experienced cinematographer like Spinnoti at the helm, Taylor felt confident that they could bring a modern film noir element to the screen. In doing so, he wanted the viewer to feel as though they have fallen into a world that exists in reality yet seems foreign and dangerous.

Says Taylor, “[We wanted] to create a noir thriller. So, we open the movie up with a lot of big vistas, a lot of big greens, beautiful, classic car, you know what I mean? The characters are bold in the frame and it’s beautifully lit all the way to when you get to the pool and the kiss and the making love. [Though,] when the doorbell rings and the girl comes to the door, the entire film from that point on becomes a noir. The forest is lit by headlights from a car. The cabin is lit by a very dim light in the corner of the cabinet, right? It just squishes everything into it and the characters are smaller in frame. The world is vastly tighter. It feels like you’re going on another ride.”

Roselyn Sanchez, Laz Alonso, Paula Patton and Omar Epps star in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

“Have you ever done anything in your life where you have a great day and then something tragic happens, [whether it’s] a car accident, a bad phone call, a death in the family? Everything warps into another world. I thought wouldn’t it be great to actually just pull the carpet from people. The movie is based in and grounded in reality and it would just be great to abruptly turn the page and now you’re in this world and it’s fight or flee.”

Of course, a film with this level of seriousness requires a strong cast. Thankfully, Taylor found the balance between the intelligence and intensity he was looking for in actress Paula Patton for the lead role.

“What I thought Paula did was amazing in the movie,” he responds. “She found a delicate balance where she’s scared out of her mind, but at the same time she’s fighting and she has to figure it out. Ultimately, she does. I don’t know if people will get it or not, but I just love the fact that she beats her with her mind at the end. I felt like [she] fought through so much and now psychologically she beats them, you know? I just thought that was kinda cool.”

To Taylor, one of the most earth-shattering stories came from a woman on their set who had been involved in the industry herself. By listening to her journey, he realized how methodical and dangerous the world of trafficking truly is.

Paula Patton stars in Traffik
Photo: Scott Everett White

“You know, I’ll blow your mind now here…,” he starts. “We had a lady that was on the set with us who was a victim but here’s where it gets more interesting. Not only was she a victim when she was a young black woman but ultimately, she became part of the organization and she began trafficking other people. We found out during this process that this was normal. She said that she’d trafficked kids, mothers, boys, because what better face [to entrap them] than a woman. They can get to another woman or to a boy to a young girl quicker than a man could. I thought that, man, this is the most evil thing I’ve ever heard in my life. “

In light of this, there is a key moment in the film where Paula accuses another woman involved in the trafficking business of being a traitor. For Taylor, this line is more than just snappy dialogue but an accusation of betrayal against her own gender.

“What’s crazy is the psychology of that because, if you’re in a store and your little girl goes missing, [when] you start looking around who are you looking for?,” asks Taylor. “The first thing you’re looking for as a man is a guy escaping, right? You’re not thinking that the random white woman at the counter holding the bag of groceries is conspiring to put together a ring or whatever. So, the ‘traitor’ line was very interesting for us because it’s like she’s a traitor to women or to the gender. We just thought that was a powerful, powerful moment.”

Traffik opens in theatres on April 20th, 2018

For full audio of our interview with Deon, click here.