8mm

Year of release : 1999

Run time : 2h3min

Genre : Thriller / Mystery

Cast : Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Peter Stormare

Director : Joel Schumacher

Tom Welles is a private detective who gains the trust of his employers by keeping their secrets,thus advancing in his career. He thinks he might get his big break by taking the case Mrs. Christian gives him.

Mrs. Christian hires him after her husband died of old age. In his private belongings, in a safe that only he could access ,she found a film which seems to be real. She asks Tom to find out if the girl k1lled in the movie died for real or it was just acting,as she fears the first might be true.

He takes a screenshot of the girl and starts looking for her in the missing persons database. And finds her. He finds her mother who tells her she ran away,and looking through her room,she finds her diary stashed in the toilet basin, in which she left a letter for her mother, that she is going to Hollywood to become an actress.

The investigation takes him into the dark corners of society (mostly the p0rn industry, Bdsm in particular), and he finds out the rich can pay certain directors to create whatever they fancy for the right amount of money .

I personally liked the movie,it keeps you in suspense, it is snuff, is it not? It keeps you guessing, and just when you think the world he lands in by mistake isn't as dark,you find out it is..

 

8mm film is a film format in which the film strip is 8 millimetres wide. It exists in 2 versions, the original standard 8 mm, aka regular 8mm, and Super 8.

The actors were great.

The soundtrack was good, but I felt it didn't match the movie,until the final fight scene.

Viewer discretion is advised, as the movie contains mature content, language, Bdsm and full frontal nudity.

The movie received mostly negative reviews due to its sadistic violence, and grossed 96.6 million dollars against a budget of 40 million ,being a box office success. Ironically, the audiences gave it a C- on an A+ to F scale.

 

The movie is for rent / sale on Amazon, AppleTv, Fandango at Home.

Rating : Worth a watch !