Taglines: You can’t prepare for where the truth will take you.
8mm movie storyline. Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) is a surveillance specialist-what used to be known as a “private eye”-but his version of the profession is hardly the stuff of which legends are made. He has a modest, home-based practice in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he lives an existence remarkable only for its normalcy with wife Amy and baby daughter, Cindy. Respected but still waiting for a big break that will improve his professional status, Welles spends most of his time on routine cases involving unfaithful spouses and the like.
Nothing too dangerous, nor too threatening… until a small, innocuous-looking plastic reel of film turns Welles’ life upside down, sending him down a sordid and terrifying path into society’s darkest corners. From the lurid sidewalks of L.A.’s Hollywood Boulevard to the squalor of New York City’s meat-packing district, Eight Millimeter follows Tom Welles.
He relentlessly pursues a bizarre trail of graphic and disturbing evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger-a girl who begins to haunt his imagination and conscience. Aided in his obsession by a streetwise adult bookstore clerk, Max (Joaquin Phoenix), Welles drifts away from his wife, family and former life. What Welles learns is beyond his worst nightmares, as he comes to realize how deadly a small reel of eight millimeter film can be.
8mm is a 1999 American-German crime mystery film directed by Joel Schumacher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The film stars Nicolas Cage as a private investigator who delves into the world of snuff films. Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, and Anthony Heald appear in supporting roles.
About the Story
Private investigator Tom Welles is contacted by Daniel Longdale, attorney for wealthy widow Mrs. Christian, whose husband has recently died. While clearing out her late husband’s safe, she and Mr. Longdale find an 8mm movie which appears to depict a real murder, but Mrs. Christian wants to know for certain.
After looking through missing persons files, Welles discovers the girl is Mary Ann Mathews, and visits her mother, Janet Mathews. While searching the house with her permission, he finds Mary Ann’s diary, in which she says she went to Hollywood to become a film star. He asks Mrs. Mathews if she wants to know the truth, even if it is the worst. She says that she wants to know what happened to her daughter.
In Hollywood, with the help of an adult video store employee called Max California, Welles delves into the underworld of illegal pornography. Contact with a sleazy talent scout named Eddie Poole leads them to director Dino Velvet, whose violent pornographic films star a masked man known as “Machine.” To gain more evidence, Welles pretends to be a client interested in commissioning a hardcore bondage film to be directed by Velvet and starring Machine. Velvet agrees and arranges a meeting in New York City.
At the meeting, attorney Longdale appears and explains that Christian had contracted him to procure a snuff film. Longdale says that he told Velvet that Welles might come looking for them. Realizing that the snuff film was authentic, Welles knows he is at risk. Velvet and Machine produce a bound and beaten California, whom they abducted to force Welles to bring them the only surviving copy of the illegal film.
Once he delivers it, they burn it and kill California. As they are about to kill Welles, he tells them that Christian paid $1,000,000 for the film. Velvet, Poole, and Machine received much less and that Longdale kept the major portion. In an ensuing fight, Velvet and Longdale are both killed; Welles wounds Machine and escapes.
He calls Mrs. Christian to tell her his discoveries and recommends going to the police, to which she agrees. Arriving at her estate, Welles is told that Mrs. Christian committed suicide after hearing the news. She left envelopes for the Mathews family and Welles: it contains the rest of his payment and a note reading, “Try to forget us.”
8mm (1999)
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, Anthony Heald, Chris Bauer, Catherine Keener, Myra Carter, Amy Morton, Rachel Singer
Screenplay by: Andrew Kevin Walker
Production Design by: Gary Wissner
Cinematography by: Robert Elswit
Film Editing by: Mark Stevens
Costume Design by: Mona May
Set Decoration by: Gary Fettis
Art Direction by: Gershon Ginsburg
Music by: Mychael Danna
MPAA Rating: R for strong perverse sexuality and violence, and for strong language.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: February 26, 1999 (United States), April 1, 1999 (Germany)
Hits: 114
