8mm

8mm

“8mm” by Joel Schumacher is a gloomy and squalid descent into the world of snuff movies, which is undergone by an investigating detective who is disgusted with his discoveries. It engages in depictions of violent exploitation films that are not pornographic, but instead they are meant to horrify rather than entertain.

He is Andrew Kevin Walker, the writer for “Seven”, who once again invents someone who cannot cope with evil and keeps questioning (or even screaming) himself, “why?” The reply comes from one of the meanest characters at nearly the end of the movie: “I do those things because I want to. Because I like them.” There’s no solace there; rather, these final shots smiles exchanged are ironic; Walker makes peace with the fact that pure evil does exist and that some people are just bad; one of his murderers even mocks our hero: “I wasn’t beaten as a child. I didn’t hate my parents.”

Nicolas Cage stars as Tom Welles, an opaque family man working as a detective while married to Catherine Keener’s character and having a small child. He specializes in high class customers and complete secrecy. He’s been hired by a lawyer representing an affluent widow in whose late husband’s safe she has found what looks like a snuff film; she needs assurance that it wasn’t real murder footage, so Welles explains to her that snuff films are just “a myth done up with makeup or special effects or something.”

As we follow Welles through the film he becomes acquainted with this young woman’s mother and traces her movements back to Hollywood before engaging assistance in order to infiltrate the underworld of pornography where live execution videos are made according to custom demand. Dark atmospheres appeal J. Schumacher (he directed “The Lost Boys”, “Flatliners” and two Batman movies). Here, however with Mychael Danna’s sad music and Robert Elswit’s cameras squinting he suggests that a foreboding presence pervade all scenes, even the opening shot of travelers walking through an airport.

This film aims to take an average man and put him in such a horrifying encounter with evil that he feels compelled to murder someone. Tom Welles was educated at “a fancy” school on grants but instead of “going into law or finance,” according to the lawyer for the wealthy widow, “you chose surveillance.” “Yes,” says Welles. He adds: “I thought it was the future.” He usually tails people suspected of cheating on their spouses but not this case. First, he talks with her mother and follows her to Hollywood, where he hires a local guide who will help him penetrate through layers of secrecy surrounding Big Time Sex Industry.

The protagonist is Max California (Joaquin Phoenix), once an idealist but currently hustling in the sex trade; the movie argues that the economy of Los Angeles plays with hopeful young job seekers to lead them directly into prostitution. In this film, Welles meets Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini) through Max, who really meant it when he said whatever one wanted he could get.

It is however through Eddie that they come face to face with Dino Velvet, a brutal porn director played by Peter Stormare a character that barely spoke anything except the killer in “Fargo” and here manufactures these terrifying weirdo verbal affectations. The main character of some his films is Machine (Chris Bauer), who does not like taking off his mask.

Welles’ interactions with these men put him at risk and he gets himself into danger as was expected of him by viewers but “8mm” does not handle his problems in action scenes only. There’s a moment here where Welles has a chance for revenge but lacks the desire or rather means for accomplishing it (he is not a murderer). He actually calls up one of his victims demanding for reasons why he should kill someone. I have never watched any movie showing such a scene before hence I cannot stop asking questions about it.

As many audiences saw it happen in ‘seven’, there are people who will be shocked by this picture. This would certainly have been NC-17 had that been an indie instead of being from a major studio having clout; its rating is a solid R though. But it’s also a real film: neither glossy nor sleazy exploitation exercise without consequences.

There clearly exists no ethical concerns in what might be considered as the peak point of excitement during an action climax on film anymore. Yes, our hero is nothing more than your average joe faced with violent confrontations, however this is not what this flick attempts to emphasize upon or convey. The last two words of the screenplay are “save me,” and by the time they’re said, we know what they mean.

Watch 8mm For Free On Gomovies.