Film "Cocaine". Reviews of viewers and evaluation of critics

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the modern film industry there are many films about the rampant drug mafia, the roots of which stretch to the Colombian drug lords. One illustrative example is Ted Demme's Cocaine project starring Johnny Depp. The film is based on the life story of George Young, a well-known US smuggler. Reviews of the film "Cocaine" (2001) deserved contradictory, after all, the topic is rather sensitive. For example, it has a 7.60 rating on the Internet Movie Database and 55 out of 100 positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic experts and users are more critical. Laudatory reviews for the film "Cocaine" were left by 12 reviewers, neutral - 19, negative - 12, so the rating of the tape is 52 out of 100.

The story of rise and fall

The protagonist of the picture - an ordinary boy from the suburbs George Jacob Young - in pursuit of profit hooked a lot of American celebrities on cocaine. At some point, he became one of the most influential and richest people in the United States. He was hunted by the FBI, police, competitors and even former associates. It was then that his money turned to dust, because his own life is many times more expensive than even the most luxurious mansions, yachts and sports cars.

Critics in reviews of the film "Cocaine" note that the story begins in a lyric-nostalgic vein according to the scheme "Childhood" - "Adolescence" - "Youth". Later, a detailed, documentary-like description of the development of the protagonist's phenomenal career in the criminal business begins, including the patronage of Pablo Escobar. At this point, many filmmakers are finding similarities in the work of Ted Demme and Steven Soderbergh (Traffic).

With a touch of melodrama

Judging by the reviews of the film "Cocaine", the reviewers did not appreciate the flight of the director's creative thought, who tried to make an explosive mixture of the story of the rise and fall of a drug dealer, a kind of criminal version of the notorious American dream in the spirit of "The Great Gatsby". The thing is that the director is trying to focus on the fact that his character practiced only "dry" things, not reaching the murders. But since he still falls short of a tragic hero, Demme tries to whip up the atmosphere with Young's relationship with his parents, wife Mirta and daughter. With the light hand of the author, the mother kicks George out of the house, the wife leaves, the daughter does not visit in prison. All these components, causing violent suffering in the soul of the drug lord, for some reason do not touch the viewer.

Film critics are sure that even if all the difficulties described in the cinema are true, this does not mean that respectable citizens are interested in themwatch, and even more empathize with the main character. And they are right.

Main actors

Reviews of the film "Cocaine", left by the audience, mostly confirm the opinion of critics. Their authors emphasize that when watching, it is better to follow not the twists and turns of the plot, but the amazing skill of Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz and Ray Liotta, who have been playing their characters for 30 years, changing noticeably from year to year thanks to the professionalism of the make-up artists. By the way, makeup artist Kevin Jagger won the most praise from users, convincingly conveying aging with the help of makeup.

In the film "Cocaine" the actors who played the main roles are really incomparable. Johnny Depp is one of those people who are talented in everything. Initially, he became famous as a teenage idol, then purposefully pursued a career in auteur cinema, without claiming huge earnings. But Pirates of the Caribbean changed everything, throwing the actor to the top of the Hollywood commercial Olympus. Currently, the performer is famous not only for his unsurpassed acting performances: he plays in a rock band and is engaged in portrait painting. In the film "Cocaine" Johnny Depp is convincing and moderately dramatic.

Spanish actress and model Penelope Cruz, who began her creative career on television, became famous after the release of a series of films, including "Open Your Eyes", "The Land of Hills and Valleys", "The Girl of Your Dreams", "The Woman from Above", "Vanilla Sky". Critics are sure that Cruz is an actress of the dramatic genre. Heroften compared with Italian legends Anna Magnani and Sophia Loren. In "Cocaine" the skill of the performer is beyond competition.

Duality of impressions

In general, the two-hour tape leaves an ambivalent impression. If you remove cocaine from the story, you get an ordinary drama. The fact is that the cocaine theme is very slippery for cinema. Having conceived a picture about big and fast money, the authors covered themselves with political correctness.