Trade.

"From its flagrant exoticization-cum-demonization of Mexico City to its predictably trendy, faceless aesthetic to its uproariously hammy acting, Trade is a disaster from the top down," writes Michael Koresky at indieWIRE. "Obviously the work of a filmmaker who has genuinely no ideas about the ethics of storytelling or representation, Trade is essentially Hostel Part Two but designed to make you feel good for having learned about 'something.'"

"German director Marco Kreuzpaintner's movie looks like Traffic and Syriana - clearly his role models - but is little more than our generation's version of 1979's Hardcore," writes Robert Wilonsky.

Updated through 9/28.

"It doesn't shy from the facts or the complexities but might still attract viewers with its genre dynamics and appealing performances," suggests Peter Keough in the Boston Phoenix.

In the Los Angeles Times, Robert W Welkos tells the rough and tumble story of the film's making.

Update, 9/28: Kreuzpaintner's "intentions may be laudable but his goals are conflicted: in seeking to educate as well as tease, he ends up doing neither," writes Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times.

"The US State Department estimates as many as 800,000 people are trafficked internationally each year for purposes of sexual exploitation. Of those, 80% are female and 50% are minors," notes Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times. "This mostly effective dramatization paints a suitably ugly picture of the dehumanizing depths people are willing to go for money."

"Like Crash, Trade is a pulpy Hollywood-style melodrama disguised as a harrowing message movie about Important Social Issues," writes Nathan Rabin at the AV Club. "It labors under the delusion that it's this year's revelatory, eye-opening Maria Full Of Grace, when it's little more than a B-movie with an overwrought conscience."

Posted by dwhudson at September 27, 2007 11:57 AM