Trafficker

I know it was a controversial film but Eyes Wide Shut was for me cinematographically brilliant so I had high standards for Larry Smith to match up to on this one. Well, considering the budget and the timeframe within which this was shot he achieved wonders. Top marks from me

It feels harsh to slam a film that is made with the best of intentions on a tight budget, but these are professional film-makers and they deserve not to be patronised. The story, about two Vietnamese refugee brothers who get tangled up in drug dealing, is moving and involving and the fact that it's based in fact makes it more so. But the execution leaves plenty to be desired.

First, to deal with what they get right. Bar a few establishing shots, the whole movie was shot in Bangkok, which stands in for Saigon, Sydney and Singapore. I guess people who know these cities very well might be able to see the joins but as far as I could see they pulled off the deception very well, conjuring up a Vietnamese brothel, an Australian orphanage and a Singapore jail very well: even the exterior scenes looked right.

The problem, though, was probably a by-product of the Bangkok location. Many of the Thai actors veer between woodenness and over-emoting, as if they're in one of the inexplicably popular TV soaps. The reactions of Hao and Ling to the court verdict are particularly hammy. Moreover, the two actors playing these parts (Guy Ratchanont Suprakob and Krystal Vee) speak English with distinct US/international school accents despite their characters supposedly having been brought up in Australia. Some of the supporting performances are even worse, and not just the Thais pretending to be Vietnamese - the various actors playing Australian cops, priests, schoolboys, newsreaders etc seem to have been little more than random Aussies pulled out of a Bangkok beer bar. Jonathan Raggett as Dahn is a little better at communicating baffled innocence - and his Aussie accent is mostly passable - but he's also pretty stiff at times.

Despite their appearance at the top of the IMDb cast list, the relatively big-name actors aren't around for long enough to really make much of an impact. Amanda Donohoe is OK as the lawyer but hers is an underwritten role: Om Puri as a Singaporean judge has about five minutes of screen time, if that; and Vithaya Pansringarm (who was the best thing in Only God Forgives, on which director Larry Smith was the cinematographer) also doesn't have much to do in his gangster role.

Overall, not a complete failure, but it could have been a whole lot better with some stronger actors in the key roles.

Trafficker, is Larry Smith's ( accomplished cinematographer that previously worked with Stanley Kubrick) debut film as a director, and while watching it's premier a few nights ago, what Larry was able to achieve with such a tight budget and only 25 days to shoot completely surprised me and went above my initial expectations. Though there is of course room for improvement, as there is in any film, Trafficker was both moral and entertaining, following the life of two brothers caught up amiss the drug world.

Despite the sometimes lacking Australian accent and over-exaggerated acting by the rather unexperienced key actors (Guy Ratchanont Suprakob and Jonathan Raggett), this film was not terrible acting wise, but quite decent and at times enthralling, which is what to expect from new bee actors.

In this film, Larry Smith and his crew were able to successfully bring to life several various locations while remaining in the Bangkok, Thailand area. The sets and locations were intriguing and each unique. The lighting throughout the film was expressive and set the atmosphere for many of the scenes, especially that in the Vietnamese bar. It wasn't as red as Only God Forgives (in which he was the DOP), but that's probably as GOOD thing.

However, one of this film's best features is it's exciting and emotional story, inspired by true events. Considering the number of nonsensical big budget films I watched this year with no plot whatsoever, it was gratifying to finally walk into a theatre showing a film with and actual moral and purpose.

This film isn't filled with sex-appeal, hunky men and a happy ending love story, it's a film that addresses real issues, a brotherly love, and the struggle they face in the drug world, but that's not a bad thing. This film is fresh, it's different, and well worth the watch.

Larry Smith was able to make a both purposeful and congenial film out of unexperienced actors, a tight budget and limited schedule, which by my standards isn't easy to achieve. I do recommend watching this film because even though it's not perfect, (then again what is?) compared to the other nonsense released this year, it's well worth it.

The story kept me watching, but seasoned cinematographer turned writer and director Larry Smith's debut film should've had a seasoned filmmaker assist him in this debut. It felt like a soap-opera production of a school drama project. The score was sappy, although I've heard much worse in many other B-films. The actors, considering the leads were inexperienced, actually did pretty good, especially considering they had zero cast direction from Smith. The lovely Krystal Vee was the most convincing (and easy on the eyes) as was Charlie Ruedpokanon, but then again they have the most acting experience. The screenplay certainly had some plot and technical issues, and the normally decent 90 min runtime felt longer from dragged out scenes and slow pacing. The timeline shifting in the beginning got annoying fast, and could've been much smoother. Nevertheless, I'm a fan of true-event films, and this one held my attention and is a good one-time watch for a low budget Aussie flick. It's a 6/10 from me.