From: Adam Kempenaar
To: Sam Hallgren; Eric Baker
Subject: William Goldman was right
"...a fiction that required a nonfiction context that simultaneously denied the existence of the nonfiction." Damn. I think my brain just exploded. I didn't realize your vending machine at work sold nickel bags of weed, Sam. But let's start at the beginning. Can Eminem act? You say "no." My short answer: "yes." You are absolutely right when you argue that Eminem has no "Oscar winning moments" and that he doesn't do anything really but look sullen, yell and joke around. I'd add just one more emotion/expression to that list, which is his 'lips pursed, eyes slightly-bugging out, Charles Manson face.' But what you are apparently disregarding is the fact that Eminem clearly exhibits two qualities that every good actor must have -- two qualities that have nothing to do with craft because they can't be taught. First, he is totally, undeniably genuine. I believed every moment of his performance -- his sadness, rage, and humor. Of course, he should be able to pull it off because he is really playing himself. But then Howard Stern actually played himself in 'Private Parts' and he seemed as fake as Julia Roberts holding a hot Rolex. Stern also failed to show even a hint of Eminem's other quality -- charisma. If you've seen even one of his music videos, you know that this guy is a natural performer. In '8 Mile' we are with him for almost the entire movie -- is there a single scene that isn't told from his point-of-view? -- and he never lost my attention. Plus, as you mentioned, the "battle" scenes are electric. His presence on stage and his ability to create rhymes should impress even the staunchest hip-hop haters out there. Besides, "Oscar winning moments" suck. At the risk of offending any readers, William Goldman said it best (and I'm paraphrasing): "Alcoholics and retards should never win Oscars." As for the nonfiction vs. fiction dialectic, you seem to be saying that the ending of the movie -- which we won't discuss specifically -- somehow requires you to believe that Rabbit will achieve the same stardom and success that Eminem had. But the ambiguity that Silver and Hanson leave at the end is one of the movie's greatest attributes. When Rabbit walks away, we don't know if he is going to become a big star and get away from 8 Mile -- but we don't know that he won't either. What we do know is that he has managed to exorcise about 1,000 demons throughout the movie and come to realize that he will never succeed at anything in life unless he is willing to accept responsibility for his situation. Bad mother? Live in a trailer park? Picked on 'cause your small and white? Yeah, life sucks. But you can either sit around blaming everyone or get on with your life, and he chooses the tougher path. Did I miss it, or did Hanson avoid ever actually showing 8 Mile? I don't recall seeing any highway or street signs. I loved that, as if he was showing us that 8 Mile is a dividing line that only exists in our heads. Look forward to your reply and hopefully hearing Eric's thoughts tomorrow.
-CS
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