Blow

There's something relentlessly self-serving about the (auto)biographies of criminals. There are too many plays for sympathy; a certain neatness in the way events always seem to absolve the criminal of blame; a sense of something being laid on a little too thick. So it is with 'Blow'.

George Jung, as played by Johnny Depp, is a perpetual ingenue. His character is a catalogue of good looks and sweet gestures, and he has a downright saintliness in his dealings with others that's so slick and saccharine that one can see the con coming from miles away. George is kind to his friends, generous to his business partners, oddly enough always the victim and never the perpetrator of double crossings, and by God, he loves his daughter. I was disappointed that there were no scenes of Johnny Depp administering aid to wounded animals, but it's possible that these were cut to allow the film to run its current six hours in length.

While there's a certain low humour in watching film-makers unknowingly playing the role of patsies, the warped and jagged caricatures Jung's narrative makes of the other people in his story (the better to portray him as Christ) soon nip any fun in the bud. George's mother (Rachel Griffiths, utterly wasted) is a cold, insatiate bitch; his wife (Penelope Cruz, hysterical) is a coke-mad, tantrum throwing ingrate, and his West Coast distributor (Paul Reubens, the less said the better) is a limp wristed fairy (largely, I suspect, so as not to threaten George's position as the film's only sympathetic, attractive, non-ethnic heterosexual male). It's notable that the only female close to Jung who gets anything like a good rap is his flower-child stewardess fiancee Barbara, who rather conveniently drops dead before her relations with him have a chance to sour.

While it's not exactly unentertaining - the film's early-mid section works well as an evocation of sunlit good times - 'Blow's' inherent manipulativeness is never far beneath the surface. Once things go bad for Jung, the film starts to sag in sympathy (literally) with him, and becomes instead a chronicle of Bad and Unjust Things Suffered with Commendable Stoicism by George Jung. My advice would be to have already left the theatre by this point. The ending is painfully overblown and drawn out, and we are forced to endure one of the more 'off' moments in recent cinema as the film primly castigates Jung's daughter for not visiting her father in jail. I'm sure she has her reasons.

Johnny Depp, (George Jung),"The Libertine",'04 played an eager young guy who wanted to out do his father in many ways in life, especially making more money and satisfying his wife. When George Jung was growing up, his father and mother always fought about not enough money and his mom seemed to always dominate his poor dad. Penelope Cruz,"Sahara",'05, played the wife of George and was a complete knock out with her good looks and great acting skills. George Jung hit the top of his chosen career with rooms filled with millions of dollars and lots of white powder to blow up the nostrils. If you like pictures dealing with drugs and the outcome of enjoying this junk, this is the picture for you. Johnny Depp, gave an outstanding performance and put his heart and soul into this role.

Since not every film can be a great masterpiece, it only stands to reason that there are some which, as good as they are, will never be mentioned in the same breath as The Godfather. Blow happens to be one of those films. In today's market, where films are literally churned out with more attention paid to marketability than merit, it is no surprise that films of almost every subject are saturating the market. Even films about, or based upon, historical crime figures are a dime a dozen these days. The plus to this is that the ones that do come out have to do something special in order to be considered good.

Blow's strengths lie in a couple of performances, and the scenes in which George Jung's ability to negotiate his way out of a fix (or into one) are displayed. Johnny Depp plays Jung with a consummate authenticity that, especially when sees the interviews with the real George Jung, literally leaps out of the screen. It's hard to believe this guy who I saw as a fresh-faced semi-nerd in A Nightmare On Elm Street is able to portray such a wide and varied range of characters. Ray Liotta gives him ample support as Fred Jung, showing a man hit hard by his own unsuccessful attempts to keep himself independent and free, therefore fully understanding of how far his son will go to see he doesn't fail in the same endeavour. The final scene with Liotta, where he is listening to the tape recording, is one of the most touching examples of men declaring they cannot regret their defiance seen on film.

The scenes with Pablo Escobar are especially amusing. As we see how George was able to charm his way into any deal he set his mind to, one cannot help but admire the man. Merely standing before the most powerful drug lord in South America at that time would have taken more guts than most people are allotted. The Jungian method of keeping oneself calm while smuggling through customs, even if completely fictional, sums up this this calmness in the face of danger quite brilliantly.

But, and it seems there always is a but with Hollywood product these days, some aspects of the film are terrible. Penélope Cruz is absolutely horrible as Mirtha Jung, and it is hard to believe that someone as cocky and bold as George would tolerate her presence. I've heard Salma Hayek (or horse-jaw as she is probably better-known) suggested for the part, but she is just as bad. Given how many actresses there are in Spain who would appreciate a break, and know a mode of speech other than screaming, one can't help but wish the director could have shown a bit of Jungian testicular fortitude and cast an unknown.

Adding to the film's woes is the end of the story. Compared to the first two thirds, where we seem to be going along at the speed of one of Jung's sports cars, the whole thread about Jung's inability to live without contact with his daughter brings affairs to a screeching halt. That Christina Jung has never visited her father, at least according to the ending crawl, is a pretty sad fact. What's even worse is that after viewing this film, we never learn anything about Christina. We don't learn if the cocaine abuse on her mother's part during pregnancy had any ill effects, or whether she has led a life she would call satisfactory. She is little more than a prop. The fact that Jaime King, the actress who played her during the final wrap-up, is a recovering heroin addict only makes one wonder more. Especially among those of us who really have to live with permanent physical damage that may have been caused by parental drug abuse during in utero development (even if it was only nicotine in my mother's case).

In all, I gave Blow an eight out of ten. If you want to know anything about George Jung and how cocaine got to be such a hot item in America, then this film does make some excellent points. With the poor economy in America where blue-collar workers are in borderline poverty while CEOs rip them off something blind, it really is a wonder we aren't seeing the rise of an army composed of George Jung wannabes.

BLOW / (2001) **** (out of four)

By Blake French:

I don't think George Jung was a corrupt, sleazy drug smuggler, but, more or less, a young businessman making money to support his family and wild lifestyle. That is what makes Ted Demme's "Blow" different from other drug movies-it does not portray its characters as addicted lowlifes, but as recklessly successful, high powered individuals who simply want to live the American dream. The film is based on the true story of George Jung, whose image went from the average Joe next door, a high-school football star from a small Massachusetts town, to the world's premiere importer of cocaine from Colombia's Medellin cartel, who once supplied the States with over 85% of the total amount of imported cocaine in the 1970's and 80's. "Blow" is one of the best movies of the year.

"Blow" covers a wide range of generations and locations, ranging from the turbulent 60's to the haze of the 80's, and from such areas of the North America like Massachusetts, Florida, Colombia, California, Mexico, New York and Illinois. The time and location span provided the filmmakers with a challenge. The film was shot in a variety of locations in Southern California and in Mexico. "It was a difficult film to schedule and shoot because it had so many different time periods. And since it was the story of a man's life, every scene was fairly brief which meant an incredible number of scenes to be shot," explains executive producer Georgia Kacandes.

Covering so many years in a single film also tests the ability of the film's costume designers and makeup artists. The wardrobes, makeup and hair styles appear authentic and impressive. This movie pays close attention to even some of the most minute of details.

George Jung's motives for pursuing drugs may have been triggered by his family life as a child. His father was a nobody construction worker who often struggled with money and his marriage. In the film, Ray Liotta plays George's poor but content father, with the versatile Rachel Griffiths as his bitter, unhappy mother. George vows to never live his life in poverty, no matter what.

He moves to California as a young adult where selling marijuana supports his independent lifestyle. Paul Reubens and Ethan Suplee play George's drug-dealing comrades. Eventually, the authorities send him to prison for a while, where he meets Diego Delgado (Jordi Molla). An insider in Colombia's rising drug trade, this man educates George about the profits of selling cocaine. After serving his time, Jung becomes partners with Pablo Escobar (Cliff Curtis), the billionaire godfather of international cocaine trafficking.

"Blow" displays a consistent and detailed portrait of the spectacular rise, and dramatic fall, of Jung and his travel towards turning powder cocaine into American's biggest drug problem. Ted Demme's direction is vivid, determined, and stylish. He reportedly conducted many interviews with the real life George Jung, as he makes very clear the early high life, and the dangerous reality of a drug smuggler's everyday lifestyle. Demme is careful to stay away from frequent potential distractions, like the drug use, side characters, family issues, and romantic interests. This is a vivid narrative of a very interesting character. It does display a message about drugs that we have seen before, but never in this stylishly innovative light.

Laced with amusing detail and probing awareness, "Blow" defies the usual road of drug movies and provides us with tension and interest from Jung's many experiences-risky border crossings, ferocious consultation, unexpected deception, the persistence of the authorities, and unconquerable temptations. But untimely the film shows the true tragedy of losing your dreams to greed and drugs.

Johnny Depp proves once again what a triumphant, adaptable actor he can be. He portrays George Jung with the perfect amount of greed, style, confusion, pride, and desperation. The real George Jung is in a prison cell in New York. Without possibility of parole, Jung's release date is scheduled for 2015. Depp acknowledged the responsibility that comes with dramatizing a true individual, but also the responsibility of the director. "I knew Ted was committed to the film, but I didn't understand how deeply committed he was to the real George."

"Blow" becomes one of the most intriguing movies of 2001, but it even suffers in comparison to the incomprehensible achievement director Darren Aronofsky accomplished last year with his disturbingly real display of the downward spiral of four drug addicts in "Requiem for a Dream." That film gave us a cinematic taste of what drug addicts experience through their addictions and depravity. "Blow" still shines a fresh new light on drugs in movies, and perceptively portrays the story of a person from whom many can learn.

The effects of lacking the fortitude and conscience to make the right choices in life are examined in `Blow,' directed by Ted Demme and starring Johnny Depp as George Jung, a young New Englander who decides early on that living week to week and barely being able to make ends meet is not the kind of life he wants. George grew up in the ‘50s, in a decent, middle-class family, but was deeply affected by the fact that his father, Fred (Ray Liotta), worked his fingers to the bone as a plumber, sometimes fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, and it was never enough, especially for his mother, Ermine (Rachel Griffiths), who complained endlessly about not having enough money. More than once she abandoned her family, only to be taken back every time upon her return by Fred, who adored her. Then, in the late ‘60s, George, along with his childhood friend, Tuna (Ethan Suplee), moved to Southern California and quickly discovered the freedom of the beaches and a lifestyle conducive to his idea of paradise. That `paradise' being anchored in the realization of the big, easy money to be made at the time selling marijuana; and for George, it was only the beginning, the on-ramp to the freeway that would ultimately take him to the top of his `profession,' and which was destined to define his life.

It's a tale as old as time, the lesson of which is destined forever-- unfortunately-- to be ignored by those who seek the quick and easy road to wealth and happiness. Courage, it has been said, has many faces; one kind earns soldiers and citizens medals for rising above imminent danger. Another can be defined as being able to decline the carrot of ill-gotten gains when it is dangled before you. George lacked that kind of courage, and instead grabbed the promise it proffered with both hands, only to discover-- too late-- that it was empty indeed, and laced with unhappiness. It's a classic rags-to-riches-to-oblivion story, with a moral that will be embraced by those with the wisdom to build their house of brick instead of sticks and straw.

As George, Depp turns in a convincing, believable performance, portraying him as a misguided, rather than `bad' person. You sense that George's naivete enabled him to take chances and enter an arena to which common sense would otherwise have dictated avoidance, and because of that you are able to sympathize somewhat with him. Depp lends an innocence to the character in which you can find the kid next door, the good kid you grew up with and knew throughout your school years, and in retrospect, it would seem that George, a reasonably intelligent young man, simply made some very stupid decisions. And, as they say, the prisons are full of those just like him. But the most telling indication of who George really is and what he could/should have been, comes through his relationship with his father. And it is that which becomes the very core of the story.

As Fred Jung, Ray Liotta gives a poignant performance, presenting a very real person in a very real setting. completely avoiding any kind of stereotype into which this character could easily have fallen, Liotta plays him with a depth that averts sentimentality and makes the unconditional love he shows for his son entirely believable. It's a direct and understated performance that so clearly defines the true character of the man, and it is in the scenes between Liotta and Depp that the true nature of George is revealed as well, in which you begin to understand that he was just an ordinary guy who got caught up in extraordinary circumstances of his own design.

The supporting cast includes Penelope Cruz (Mirtha), Franka Potente (Barbara), Paul Reubens (Derek Foreal), Jordi Molla (Diego), Cliff Curtis (Escobar) and Max Perlich (Dulli). A cautionary tale for those who allow themselves to stray from the straight and narrow, the real impact of `Blow' is ultimately contained in the final frame of the film. It is a still picture of the real George Jung; and to fully realize what his life has been about, you need look no further than into the eyes of the man in that photograph. I rate this one 8/10.