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"The things I do -- I do them because I like them. Because I want to.''

-- "Machine" (Chris Bauer)

8mm exhibits bad taste and may be shocking to most people, but to me it felt like a movie with serious intent. It tracks the descent of Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage), an ordinary guy, into the nasty, immoral world of underground pornography. The character, understandably, becomes tormented, mentally, as he simply cannot accept why all the evil surrounding him exists.

Notoriously panned by critics upon its release, this was by no means a milestone in the career of Cage, even though I believe it to contain ones of his most powerful performances. He plays a man dedicated, slightly obsessed, and deeply sickened by the events that unfold throughout his investigation into the disappearance of Mary-Ann Matthews. Hired by the rich widow Mrs Christian (Myra Carter), Welles is handed an 8mm recording (a "snuff film") of the young girl being murdered, and has to uncover whether the film is real or not.

Joel Schumacher brings a great amount of suspense and twisted horror, showing similarities to David Fincher's Seven. The atmosphere is one of the main features that I judge this film as being a success: The dark, surprisingly calm, underground sex trades are served as a strong contrast to the life of family man Welles. It is because of such that we begin to sympathise for the character in his most isolated moments; he is faced with various disturbing confrontations and suffers psychological torture as a result. Then, while not necessarily agreeing with his actions, we understand when he is finally driven to kill someone -- this is an act of justice for the things that he's seen ("I'm gonna kill you, Eddie. I'm gonna kill you, and I'm gonna leave you here just like you left her.")

That brings me to my next point about 8mm: The supporting cast. Eddie is the sleazy, porn talent scout, played by James Gandolfini (The Mexican), and is such a believable sleazebag that we come to despise him. The same can be said of movie director Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare, Bad Boys II), who really comes across as a very disturbed human being. Both contribute to the developing tension within the story.

Then there's Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator) as Max California, a local porn store worker. He's such a weird character -- purple hair, wearing women's clothes, attempting to read "real literature" behind the cover of 'Anal Secretary' -- but he's likeable. When he teams up with Cage, 8mm almost becomes a mismatched buddy movie (though, no where near as cheesy as one would expect).

The bottom line: I'd hardly call 8mm feel-good entertainment, but it's definitely intriguing enough to warrant a watch, at the very least. It's not a film for everyone, but, truth be told, the subject of the film is a reality in our world. Understandably, most people will not want to be exposed to this, if they can so help it; call me sick and slightly disturbed, however, but sometimes, I like my movies quite depressing. I was moved quite a lot by 8mm -- it really is tense stuff. I just wouldn't recommend that you show it to the kids, though.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2008.