Friday, February 26, 1999
Screenscene
"8mm"
Starring Nicolas Cage and Joaquin Phoenix
Directed by Joel Schumacher
Late in the second hour of Joel Schumacher’s excruciating "8mm,"
Detective Tom Welles (Cage) exclaims aloud while pummeling one of
the film’s villains with both fists, "I’ll never get tired of
hurting you, Eddie." This seems to be the philosophy behind the
entire film "8mm," a non-stop attack on good taste that seems to
challenge audiences to walk out of the theater in disgust. It’s a
challenge they should be inclined to accept.
"8mm" is the newest film from screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker,
the dark mind who gave the world the ultra-violent (but much better
crafted) "Seven," and the similarities between both films are
obvious. Where "Seven" delighted in disgusting audiences with
gore-filled, elaborate murders, "8mm" chooses to focus on the
perverse underground world of pornography, and the results are
equally unpleasant.
Welles has been hired by an elderly widow of a recently deceased
billionaire to find out the origins of a mysterious film found
among his personal items. The film, which is shown in almost
complete entirety throughout "8mm," depicts a young girl being
raped and brutally stabbed to death by a leather-clad brute. The
quest for answers leads Welles to the Los Angeles porn underground,
where a clerk at an adult book store helps him to find the culprits
responsible for the making of the movie.
Schumacher has described this thriller as a statement about
exploitation and a warning about the availability of child
pornography, but lying at the very core of "8mm" is a central
hypocrisy: How can a movie decry pornographic images designed to
titillate and amuse yet show these same images to an audience,
attempting to titillate and amuse them? The movie can’t decide
whether it wants to be troubling or exciting; and it winds up being
neither.
The resulting film is a meandering collection of gruesome set
pieces, with no story to carry viewers along, and no sense that at
the end of the journey any sort of meaning awaits to reward their
witnessing such perversity.
Though Schumacher’s direction fails to lead the actors in an
interesting manner or give the movie any distinguishable style to
speak of, most of the fault for the wretched "8mm" falls on the
shoulders of screenwriter Walker. His dark vision could potentially
prove a background for an intriguing thriller, but he is so
interested in shocking and disgusting people that he forgets to
entertain them or instruct them. His films become the equivalent of
a snuff film – designed solely to arouse through extreme
fetishistic violence.
Lonnie Harris
Rating: 1
"20 Dates"
Starring Myles Berkowitz
Directed by Myles Berkowitz
"20 Dates" is so simple, it’s really ingenious. Like a kid with
a video camera pretending to be Spielberg shooting some fantastic
story, writer and director Myles Berkowitz is filming something
fantastic in the adult world – falling in love.
It’s a simple concept. Berkowitz, an aspiring filmmaker and a
recent divorcee, is down on his luck both personally and
professionally. Berkowitz’s solution is to document 20 dates he
will go on in his quest for true love. Plus, as Berkowitz mentions
on numerous occasions, it is a film about finding real love between
real people in real situations, not the kind where music crescendos
as a couple passionately kisses.
With such a rich premise, Berkowitz knows what’s entertaining as
20 dates are shown in a sparse 88 minutes. Like a radio DJ,
Berkowitz never lets up on the humor or allows moments to stagnate
whether he is looking for dates in a supermarket or uses his
agent’s son to go girl-hunting.
The dates are not shown continuously as Berkowitz often comments
on any subject that strikes his fancy about love or dating.
Sometimes, he visits his financier, Elie, who is bent on making him
put in "pretty women, tits, ass" and Tia Carrere.
When Berkowitz does go on a date, the results vary, but they are
always entertaining. But of all the dates he has gone on, Elisabeth
is the only woman who has made him nervous and unsure, and who he
actively pursues.
When they go out on their second date, Berkowitz’s voice-over
informs us that the passionate kiss isn’t the most dramatic moment
in real life, but it is the moment when two people feel comfortable
just barely touching each other’s hands.
But there’s a problem, Elie doesn’t like the title "17 Dates"
(how many he’s gone on before he became serious with Elisabeth)
when Berkowitz promised a movie called "20 Dates." So Berkowitz has
to go on three more dates to satisfy the requisite he put on his
film.
So the real life climax here is whether Berkowitz will give up
his personal life or his professional life.
Everything about this movie is great except for one minor
detail. In his quest to capture the dating world according to the
real world, Berkowitz forgot to include people who didn’t look like
potential supermodels. Every one of his dates is gorgeous, which
really defeats the purpose of showing reality.
Sandy Yang
Rating: 8
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