Interview: Denis Villeneuve Talks ‘Sicario,’ Strong Female Leads, 'Blade Runner’ Sequel & More

The war on drugs has been covered countless times on film. You’ve seen it in Steven Soderbergh’s award-winning “Traffic” and in recent documentaries like “The House I Live In,” “Narco Cultura,” and “Cartel Land.” While on the surface, French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s latest drama, “Sicario," is about the Mexican drug trade and the ruthless cartels that run it, it’s also an unsettling, multi-layered heart-of-darkness drama that raises more questions than it answers about the cyclical echo of violence, powerlessness, and the lack of control in the fight, as seen through the eyes of a up-and-coming and idealistic FBI agent (played by Emily Blunt) who is enlisted by an elite government task force official (Josh Brolin) for a clandestine mission. However, the job becomes ethically dubious when an enigmatic outside consultant (Benicio Del Toro) turns out to be partially leading the operation. Nothing is as it seems, and “Sicario” also deftly subverts the notion of the...