Review of Blow (2001) by Filipeneto — 16 Jan 2022

This film deals with the trajectory of the life of George Jung, a famous drug dealer who was one of the main responsible for the entrance of Colombian cocaine in the American market in the 70's and 80's. Very marked by the figure of his father, and the way he desperately tried to take money home despite his mother's criticism, George Jung had more money than he could really spend, went through prison several times and learned, inside prison, to be even better at drug dealing. The film follows his trajectory until his arrest for good.

The film is good, and it approaches the subjects treated with dynamism, and even a certain irony. It has a good rhythm and the editing, as well as the direction, works quite well. The film tries to be light, not overly heavy, which allows it to assume a less dramatic stance than we might expect at first glance, and which reminded me of other similar films such as "Wolf of Wall Street" (although without the avalanche of slang this movie used).

The cast is led by Johnny Depp, in a job considerably different from what he's used to, but in which he manages reasonably well. Ray Liotta is good, but not as good as would be necessary to give credibility to his character... Penélope Cruz is thrown into the film like someone throwing a huge rock into a small pond, but despite the presence and the somewhat dominant form that the actress assumes, she can't bring that much to the film and ends up becoming a kind of passionate, histrionic Latin lover.

Technically, the film has decent production values and appears to be expensive. The cinematography is good and does its job well, as are the sets and costumes. Some of the scenarios, such as an apartment absolutely full of bundles of money, are really illustrative of a reality they want to portray. It doesn't have great effects, but what it does have is effective, and the soundtrack also works quite well, and it's atmospheric enough. The film takes place during the 70's and 80's, but it didn't always manage to set us in the intended period.