8MM Reviewed by Mac VerStandig 3 and 1/2 Stars (out of 4) See many more reviews and vote in the awards poll at Http://www.moviereviews.org
What is pornography? Is it the showing of forbidden areas on a human body? Do they need to be shown in a sexual fashion to constitute pornography? Does the goal of the exploitation have to be sexual gratification for the viewer? The Supreme Court of the United States of America once spoke of pornography, and gave the explanation "You know it when you see it." After seeing 8MM, the latest film from director Joel Schumacher, I am convinced that the Supreme Court was absolutely correct.
A multi-millionaire widow discovers an 8mm film in her husband's safe, in which a young girl appears to raped and murdered in a most violent fashion. So, her and her attorney hire private detective Tom Welles (Nicholas Cage) to look into the authenticity of the film, and determine whether or not this could be a real snuff film, or if the murder is faked. Welles assures her that the film must be fake, saying that snuff films are "basically an urban legend--makeup, special effects" However, nonetheless, he agrees to look into it. He decides that the most effective way would be to treat the girl in the film like a missing person, and see what turns up.
He soon finds the girl and discovers that she is, indeed missing, and had run away to Los Angeles, where she found a home in the underground porn industry. So Welles makes his way into this dark, sick, and disgusting underground world with the help of Max California (Joaquin Phoenix), a clerk at a porn store. And that is what this film deals with, the underground porn world, and the people involved with it. It introduces characters that star in and make these various S/M films which feature everything from the mild beatings and whippings, to lewd images of children in those acts, to bestiality. His goal is to find the people that dealt with this girl, and what happened to her.
He also finds the girl's mother, which becomes an interesting side plot to the story. The film deals with her coping with the loss of her only child for no apparent explanation. She becomes one of the films most intriguing characters, because her and Welles are the only people in this movie that average persons can relate to. And they are opposites of each other. She is dealing with the loss of a child and husband that has left her. He is a new father with a wife that is just starting to detect marriage problems due to his work.
At one point, Max California tells Welles that he will "see things you can't unsee." That is a drastic understatement, as Schumacher chose to allow the audience to view almost everything that Welles does. And some of the images are absolutely haunting. You, the audience member, ask yourself the questions that Welles is asking the people behind these films, namely "why?" It is incomprehensible to me how some of these people could exist in the real world, or how some of them could be sick enough to engage in these behaviors, and yet that is the most frightening element of this film, that people like those doe really exist.
With that said, my largest gripe with this film is it's rating. Probably due to the big names behind it, 8MM was issued an R rating by the MPAA. The first realization that I came to is that 8MM is not pornography in any way shape or form. It contains scenes and images that would, without question, constitute pornography, but it itself is not. What it is is a frighteningly real and intense film that audiences won't enjoy as much as be shocked by. And, as it is warned, you cannot unsee some of the things in this film, they just don't go away. For that reason, 8MM is more than deserving of an NC-17 rating, as films like Showgirls, Orgazmo, and Kids look like a humorous family films when in comparison.
Nicholas Cage is absolutely phenomenal in his role. He acts like your tour guide through this deep, dark underground world, and is masterful in doing so. At one point he holds a sick, twisted, murderer at his mercy, but cannot come to execute him. So he calls the victim's family and requests permission to do so. That is one of his moments of pure humanity. At other times he comes closer to insanity. Another scene features him with a different murderer, just muttering the question "why?" over and over. The response is chilling as he snaps "The things I do - I do them because I like them. Because I want to." That is what this film is about.
Director Joel Schumacher has once again created a dark film that is truly dark. Literally, less than 10 minutes of this film are in well-lit areas. That adds a creepy and intense feel to the film, which is backed up by a frightening score throughout the film, which is only substituted for an eerie silence. Quite literally, from the first scene, you find yourself on the edge of your seat, not because you don't know what will happen next, but rather because you are too scared to sit back.
When all is said and done, 8MM is a frightening, dark, intense movie that will stay with you for a long time. It has it's flaws in that some of the acting is less than ideal, and there may just be such a thing as too much darkness for one movie. But it is good in principal, and features a wonderful performance by Nicholas Cage, and one of the most amazing character studies since Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs. I only warn that "you see things you can't unsee."
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