The second half of Soderbergh's unbelievable year 2000 was TRAFFIC, his sprawling adaptation of the 1989 Channel 4 miniseries about the many sides of the drug trade. At the time, it was hailed as a highly nuanced and humane look at narcotics. But how does it look from 2025? Joining us to discuss is professor and author of our much-cited Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, Benjamin Y. Fong! We talk macroeconomics, "Mexico filter," drug movies, Benicio Del Toro's accent, and a whole lot more. Really fascinating episode, we hope you enjoy!
Further Reading:
Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge by Benjamin Y. Fong
Rebels on the Backlot by Sharon Waxman
In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe Bourgois
Steven Soderbergh: Interviews, ed. Anthony Kaufman
Further Viewing:
"No, Mexico isn't actually that orange. Hollywood is just racist." from Mashable
MIKEY AND NICKY (May, 1976)
TRAFFIK (Reid, 1989)
HIGHWAY PATROLMAN (Cox, 1991)
LEAVING LAS VEGAS (Figgis, 1995)
ENTER THE VOID (Noe, 2009)
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (Jarecki, 2012)
THE SPECTACULAR NOW (Ponsoldt, 2013)
EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (Guerra, 2015)
MONOS (Landes, 2019)
BLOODY NOSE, EMPTY POCKETS (Ross brothers, 2020)
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Artwork by Jeremy Allison:
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