MOVIE CLUB: 8 MILE
From: Sam Hallgren
To: Adam Kempenaar; Eric Baker
Subject: Alcoholics and retards

I couldn't agree more with your disdain for "Oscar Winning Moments." I only use the expression to describe my feeling that Eminem's performance left no impression on me (with the exception of the performance scenes). I agree that he has charisma. But his performance seemed edited to me. They got the takes from him they needed to piece the story together, but there didn't seem to be a continuity to the performance. There was no subtlety to his performance. And this film demanded subtlety. I think he would have been a sensation as a supporting player in this film, or in another film that could take better advantage of his aggression and wit. To construct a whole film on his undeniable charisma was too much to ask. But that's my opinion. I like your "Raging Bull" homage theory. (I loved the opening scene). I recognized the boxing metaphors myself, but didn't articulate them cinematically. And maybe if I had I would have been able to stomach the face-off that took place during the final scene. It was just too long, too staged. I think Hanson is a smart director, and I appreciated the ambiguities of the story. But the movie never took off for me. I liked the "I'll never tell" girl, but didn't understand Rabbit's attraction to her (other than sexually) at the beginning, or his loyalty to her later. There was no complexity to Eminem's portrayal of the character; we were shown the people in his life, we were given a context to his misery, but unlike De Niro's performance as LaMotta, we got no sense of the origins of his irrational behavior. The part demanded complexity, and Eminem gave us surface. Charismatic surface, enough surface to tell the story, but not enough to give the story soul. Another difference between "8 Mile" and "Raging Bull" is that "8 Mile" isn't a tragedy; it's a redemption story, much more like "Rocky." In the end, it sits somewhere in the middle of the two films. Not a tragic biopic, not a redemptive, rousing drama. It felt inevitable. The drunk mom, the trailer park, the white skin, the lying, betraying friends. They seemed more picaresque than anything else. Not a real threat. Only one time did I get a hint of Rabbit's real struggle, of how close he was to giving up: he's getting dropped off at work by a friend and he says something like "Do you ever think it's time to stop dreaming up here; and start living down here." A total paraphrase, but it's a very true moment in the film, an insight into the character that I didn't see anywhere else. Instead of expanding on it, letting it sit there to have its effect on the audience, they use it as an opportunity to joke: "It's 7:30 in the morning, Rabbit." Moment lost. Reality shattered. Too bad.