There's a possibility that filmmaker made a research for this film through reading various articles in the newspaper. "Trade" is uninspired melodrama that seems too afraid to be what it really meant to be. Sex trade industry is an interesting and controversial subject to discuss about, but what we've here is only half-baked, incredibly shallow unfinished project.
Three different stories have interwoven into one film. But the plot begins in Mexico City. Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) is 13-years-old girl who lived in the ghetto with her mother and her brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos). One day, she was kidnapped while she rode a bicycle. In the meantime, Veronika (Alicja Bachleda-Curus) is a polish girl who searching for an opportunity in America. But she was tricked by travel agency and landing in Mexico instead of America. Not soon after landed, she's also kidnapped by the same group of people. Adriana and Veronika are two of a bunch young girls (and boys) who have to across the border led by Manuelo (Marco Pérez) in order to be sold in America.
After his younger sister is missing, Jorge decided to chase a truck that seemed to carry them across the border. Once they reach a city border, he finds Ray Sheridan (Kevin Kline), a policeman who came to Mexico with a personal mission. Jorge decided to hide in Ray's car trunk. Once Ray found out about it, they're already across the border. Jorge explained his reason to Ray and somehow Ray seemed to believe him. So they head to New Jersey where the bidding of Jorge's sister will take place and, by that, they have to do any mean necessary to stop it.
At social commentary point-of-view, "Trade" is right on target. It's right thing to explore and condemn the world of sex trade industry. But at the story point-of-view, it's complete failure. There's not a single one of three stories that will left you stunned. The main story about two young siblings is pretty weak and by-the-number melodrama. The major problem is an actor who plays Jorge, his inexperienced acting method sometime cause unintentional funny scenes. Ray's story also rather disappointing, once we've found out the reason he travels all the way to Mexico, it's not strong enough to make us care for his issue. And we can see that the filmmaker tried his best to link the sibling's situation to Ray's personal issue. But in the end, the execution is pretty awkward and feels forced. Even in Veronika's story which she did the most horrify thing that happened in the movie, it felt coming out of nowhere.
The film also falls short in consistency in both visual and character's characterization. In the beginning, they decided to use hyper active kind-of style in camera operating. With hand-held and everything, they seemed to be pretty interesting to look at (especially an opening scene with a memorable Spanish song). But as the story progressed, they changed their style to conventional style, with dolly and crane that was completely opposite to the first half. And there's irritating bad guy who supposed to make us believe that his life lives between gray areas. But somehow, it really didn't matter at all because the filmmaker decided to ignore his story altogether and, by that, makes our journey with this character seemed unnecessary.
The fate of this film fell upon the first paragraph. "Trade" appears to be a great article in the newspaper. But as a film, "Trade" is depressingly joyless drama. It's like every angle of this film suck the life out of the story a little by a little. And what we have left here is only series of beautiful and controversial photographs that barely worth calling themselves as cinema.
Three different stories have interwoven into one film. But the plot begins in Mexico City. Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) is 13-years-old girl who lived in the ghetto with her mother and her brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos). One day, she was kidnapped while she rode a bicycle. In the meantime, Veronika (Alicja Bachleda-Curus) is a polish girl who searching for an opportunity in America. But she was tricked by travel agency and landing in Mexico instead of America. Not soon after landed, she's also kidnapped by the same group of people. Adriana and Veronika are two of a bunch young girls (and boys) who have to across the border led by Manuelo (Marco Pérez) in order to be sold in America.
After his younger sister is missing, Jorge decided to chase a truck that seemed to carry them across the border. Once they reach a city border, he finds Ray Sheridan (Kevin Kline), a policeman who came to Mexico with a personal mission. Jorge decided to hide in Ray's car trunk. Once Ray found out about it, they're already across the border. Jorge explained his reason to Ray and somehow Ray seemed to believe him. So they head to New Jersey where the bidding of Jorge's sister will take place and, by that, they have to do any mean necessary to stop it.
At social commentary point-of-view, "Trade" is right on target. It's right thing to explore and condemn the world of sex trade industry. But at the story point-of-view, it's complete failure. There's not a single one of three stories that will left you stunned. The main story about two young siblings is pretty weak and by-the-number melodrama. The major problem is an actor who plays Jorge, his inexperienced acting method sometime cause unintentional funny scenes. Ray's story also rather disappointing, once we've found out the reason he travels all the way to Mexico, it's not strong enough to make us care for his issue. And we can see that the filmmaker tried his best to link the sibling's situation to Ray's personal issue. But in the end, the execution is pretty awkward and feels forced. Even in Veronika's story which she did the most horrify thing that happened in the movie, it felt coming out of nowhere.
The film also falls short in consistency in both visual and character's characterization. In the beginning, they decided to use hyper active kind-of style in camera operating. With hand-held and everything, they seemed to be pretty interesting to look at (especially an opening scene with a memorable Spanish song). But as the story progressed, they changed their style to conventional style, with dolly and crane that was completely opposite to the first half. And there's irritating bad guy who supposed to make us believe that his life lives between gray areas. But somehow, it really didn't matter at all because the filmmaker decided to ignore his story altogether and, by that, makes our journey with this character seemed unnecessary.
The fate of this film fell upon the first paragraph. "Trade" appears to be a great article in the newspaper. But as a film, "Trade" is depressingly joyless drama. It's like every angle of this film suck the life out of the story a little by a little. And what we have left here is only series of beautiful and controversial photographs that barely worth calling themselves as cinema.