Trade directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner

Aching with ambiguity

By PETER KEOUGH | September 26, 2007

3.0 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Trade.

The scandal of the sex-slave market, in which women and children are kidnapped in the Third World and sold to jaded Westerners, pops up on the news long enough to titillate, but who wants to go into depressing and complex details? Based on a New York Times article, Marco Kreuzpaintner’s unpretentious exposé is a kind of multi-narrative in the Traffic mode without the arty style. It doesn’t shy from the facts or the complexities but might still attract viewers with its genre dynamics and appealing performances. In Mexico City, little Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) takes a ride on her bike and never returns. Her older brother Jorge (Cesar Ramos) learns she’s been abducted by the Russian mob and sets out to find her, joining up with good-old-boy Texas lawman Ray (Kevin Kline), who’s been searching for his own lost daughter for 10 years. Adriana’s horrible journey provides sometimes awkward counterpoint to the odd-couple bonding of the searchers, but the dénouement aches with ambiguity.

Related: Trade, Black Irish, Review: The Strange Case of Angélica, More

Topics: Reviews , Cesar Ramos, Kevin Kline, Marco Kreuzpaintner, More

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