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For these of you who’ve at all times wished to see Juliette Binoche play a foul-mouthed truck driver — and you understand who you might be — “Paradise Highway” delivers the products, after which some. This counterintuitive casting is definitely simply one of many promoting factors for writer-director Anna Gutto’s strong and satisfying thriller, a shrewdly constructed melodrama that doesn’t transcend cliches and conventions a lot as present how helpful and efficient they are often in the correct arms.
Providing a précis of the plot may arguably do the film a disservice, because the narrative pivots on human trafficking — particularly, the trafficking of prepubescent ladies. It’s a topic that always brings out the extreme worst in even probably the most well-intentioned administrators, and extra typically elicits an comprehensible “thanks, however no thanks” response from many potential viewers. All through “Paradise Freeway,” nonetheless, Gutto demonstrates welcome restraint and a meticulous avoidance of something that resembles exploitation, counting on oblique but impactful allusions to maintain us always conscious of the mortal stakes concerned. All in all, this can be a singularly promising debut for a first-time function filmmaker.
Sally (Binoche), a trucker who hauls freight throughout the Southeast, will get concerned in evil inadvertently, if not unintentionally. True, she often carries satchels of contraband within the cab of her rig, however solely to ensure the security of her criminally inclined brother Dennis (an aptly ambiguous Frank Grillo), who’s topic to brutal beatdowns by fellow jail inmates if she doesn’t play alongside. The siblings are co-dependent survivors of an abusive childhood, which makes their bond all of the stronger. In truth, apart from Dennis, Sally is a loner with no obvious human connections apart from different feminine long-haulers with whom she joshes on her CB radio.
Days earlier than Dennis’ launch, Sally agrees to what she assumes shall be one final transport of illicit cargo. At first, she strongly objects when informed the job will entail taking somewhat lady, Leila (Hala Finley), throughout state traces for use and abused. However when she’s reminded of what may occur to Dennis if she doesn’t comply — effectively, Sally does her greatest to maintain Leila at arm’s size emotionally till the supply is made. Issues change on the drop-off level, nonetheless, when Leila grabs the shotgun Sally retains within the cab for cover and blasts the creep who’s able to take supply. After that, survival instincts, not maternal emotions, kick in. “You’ll have shot him,” Sally angrily snaps at Leila as she places pedal to the metallic, “however I left him there to die.”
You may suppose that it’s solely a matter of time earlier than the hard-bitten trucker and the resourceful but frightened little lady acknowledge what they’ve in widespread — industrial-grade emotional scars, for starters — and begin to belief one another whereas on the lam. And, in fact, you’ll be right in making that assumption. However the thawing of hearts and the decreasing of guards take a bit longer in “Paradise Freeway” than is widespread in films constructed round such initially contentious relationships. Not solely does that improve the credibility of the plot; it additionally offers the well-cast leads time to convey out the perfect in one another, because the younger newcomer rises to the extent of the Oscar-winning veteran’s sport.
In the meantime, Sally and Leila are pursued by representatives of the traffickers, who craftily make use of subcontractors throughout an particularly suspenseful truck cease sequence, and Gerick (Morgan Freeman), a former FBI agent who now works as a “guide” for the Bureau, thereby permitting him to interrupt much more guidelines than he did as a federal worker whereas searching flesh peddlers. Gerick is partnered, whether or not he desires to be or not, with a novice particular agent, Sterling (Cameron Monaghan), who does every thing by the e book till he learns higher below Gerick’s tutelage. Each of those characters are pretty shameless stereotypes, however the actors play them convincingly — Gerick’s penchant for obscenity probably could be fairly tiresome if anybody apart from Freeman had been launching the F-bombs — and their reactions to proof of kid exploitation assist convey a way of gravity to the proceedings.
Credit score DP John Christian Rosenlund for vividly conveying every thing from the vaguely menacing look of a neon-lit truck cease late at night time to the sense of boundless freedom throughout daytime drives by way of naturally stunning locales. The intelligent decisions of pop tunes on the soundtrack is a plus — word the neat steadiness of Blondie’s unique “One Approach or One other” and a dreamier cowl by composer Anné Kulonen and Philip Kay — and the sisterhood-is-powerful twist to the third-act decision is an impressed payoff to parts planted within the opening scene. Talking of which, that opening scene is the place the movie makes an attempt to justify Binoche’s accent. You see, she’s from Canada. Hey, no matter works.
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