8mm (Super 8)

Snuffed out

Private detective Tom Welles (Nicholas Cage) is asked to do a job by the widow of a recently deceased billionaire industrialist. He has been hired because of his reputation for discretion. The task is to authenticate a roll of movie film which depicts the grisly murder of a young girl, by a knife-wielding masked man. It appears to be a 'snuff' movie, where someone is actually killed for the purpose of making the film. Naturally, the widow is appalled by the film, but is anxious to conduct the investigation in secret, and will spare no expense in doing so.

Welles is deeply upset on viewing the film, and suspects it is a fake. He accepts the case and begins by attempting to trace the film stock and the identity of the girl. His investigation means that he must spend a lot of time away from his home and his beloved wife Amy (Catherine Keener) and baby daughter. His sense of lonliness is heightened at the realization that the young girl in the snuff movie was cared for by almost no one. He is forced to delve into the hardcore porn industry, and he is assisted by an aspiring musician, Max California (Joaquin Phoenix) who is working in a pornshop. With his assistance, he meets the 'Fellini of porn', Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare) and his producer, Eddie Poole (James Gandolfino), whom Welles suspects of using the girl in their movies.

The prospect of combining the talents of a big-name star (Cage), a critically and commercially acclaimed writer (Andrew Kevin Walker) and a solidly commercial director (Joel Schumacher) must have seemed like a surefire receipe for success for the makers of 8mm. Cage is a genuine A-list star, with enough talent and charisma to make one even forgive him for Vampire's Kiss (well, almost). Walker's previous scripting job was Seven, a genuinely disturbing journey into the darker side of humanity, which was skillfully brought to life by the director, David Fincher, who had previously made Alien³. This time, Walker's script is in the hands of Schumaker, who has much cheerier and mainstream sensibilities.

Those of you who are of a squeamish disposition will be glad to know that 8mm is not nearly as scary as Seven to watch. However, those of you with any sense of discernment will be very disappointed to find that 8mm is not nearly as entertaining or gripping, either (If you haven't yet seen Seven, take the money you might have spent on 8mm and rent Seven on video instead). Snuff movies are supposed to be an urban legend, and it's easy to see how the subject would interest Walker. Like Seven, the main characters are forced to confront the depravity of their fellow citizens. As his investigation brings him closer to the makers of the snuff film, Welles seeks to understand what motivates them. For him, rooted in a safe and normal world, and buttressed by his love of his wife and young child, he cannot comprehend how someone could kill another human being for entertainment, or why anyone would want to watch such a film.

Schemacher's direction is rather straightforward and sometimes a little too obvious. A fight between Welles and a suspected killer takes place in pouring rain in a graveyard, and Dino Velvet's porn studio is in the middle of a butchers meat market ! However, the real villian is the script, which is leaden and rather twist-free. There is one very obvious twist which should come as a surprise to no-one, (though it never occurs to Welles in his investigation). The depiction of Welles home life is as bland as a car advert, and it's a shame to see Catherine Keener put to such little use.

The best part of the movie is when Welles teams up with Max California. Phoenix plays the failed musician with a mordant wit, but he doesn't have much screen time. Cage acquits himself reasonably well, though his transformation from law-abiding family man to obsessed vigilante is not the least bit convincing and seems to happen overnight.

The structure of the film is very strange. The pace slows down and the story changes direction two-thirds of the way through, effectively delivering two damp-squib endings for the price of one. Hardly value for money.

Directed by Joel Schumaker.

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© 1999 Stockholm Film Review. All Rights Reserved.