‘Paradise Highway’ Review: Juliette Binoche and Newcomer Hala Finley Are On the Road and On the Run In a Solidly Crafted Thriller
variety.comJoe Leydon Film CriticFor those of you who have always wanted to see Juliette Binoche play a foul-mouthed truck driver — and you know who you are — “Paradise Highway” delivers the goods, and then some.
This counterintuitive casting is actually just one of the selling points for writer-director Anna Gutto’s solid and satisfying thriller, a shrewdly constructed melodrama that does not transcend cliches and conventions so much as show how useful and effective they can be in the right hands.Offering a précis of the plot could arguably do the movie a disservice, since the narrative pivots on human trafficking — specifically, the trafficking of prepubescent girls.
It’s a subject that often brings out the excessive worst in even the most well-intentioned directors, and more often elicits an understandable “thanks, but no thanks” response from many potential viewers.
Throughout “Paradise Highway,” however, Gutto demonstrates welcome restraint and a meticulous avoidance of anything that resembles exploitation, relying on indirect yet impactful allusions to keep us constantly aware of the mortal stakes involved.
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