8MM ★★★

WHO better to play a private detective investigating the snuff film market than Nicolas Cage.

During the ‘Peak Cage’ period, from the late 1980s to late ‘90s, as well as featuring in big action adventures like Con Air and clever comedies ala Moonstruck, he delved into the dark corners of humanity and society with eye-catching performances in films like Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Bringing out the Dead and 8MM.

The latter is the least well-known of the list, a crime thriller released in 1999 and written by Andrew Kevin Walker, the man who also penned David Fincher’s modern serial killer classic Se7en (1995).

By signing on for 8MM, the late journeyman director Joel Schumacher obviously wanted a change of genre from his two Batman films which had not been well received.

Unfortunately for Schumacher, 8MM also received mostly negative reviews, the worst dismissing it as sleazy, exploitative cinema with few redeeming features.

But, due primarily to Cage’s continuing reputation, it has grown in stature amongst critics who have newly discovered or re-visited it.

Cage plays private investigator Tom Welles who considers himself a professional aligned to high-end clients. He is married with a young child.

He takes a job for a wealthy widow who has found an 8mm film in her late husband’s office safe that appears to show the actual murder of a young woman. The widow is intent on finding out whether the film is real.

After establishing the woman’s identity, Welles heads for Hollywood where she was last heard from. He hires a street-smart adult video store clerk to help him navigate the world of underground fetish pornography with their investigations eventually leading to the sleaziest parts of New York and a whole new level of dangerous individuals.

As with many of this type of film, 8MM treads a fine line but manages to stay mostly on the side of being a serious film that deals with a part of society that thrives on exploitation.

It’s not as successful as similar mainstream films like Cruising, Bringing out the Dead and Nightcrawler, veering more towards a mystery thriller.

But there’s no denying the quality of the performances that life the film considerably. Apart from Cage, it also features a pre-Gladiator Joaquin Phoenix as Welles’ guide Max California, James Gandolfini as a porn film distributor (the same year The Sopranos started on television) and Peter Stormare as the wonderfully named porn director Dino Velvet.

Not for everyone but watch if you’re into uncompromising dramas dealing with dark material.

Watched on Blu-ray.