It\u2019s the winter of 1995 in Detroit, and novice rapper Jimmy \u201cB-Rabbit\u201d Smith (Eminem) has seen some shit. He\u2019s been fired from a job as a Little Caesar\u2019s delivery guy, he dumped his girlfriend after she told him she was pregnant, and he\u2019s living in a trailer with his alcoholic mother (Kim Basinger), who\u2019s dating a guy who was a senior in high school when Jimmy was a freshman. The only thing keeping Jimmy together is his writing and his love of rap; his friends and local producer Future (Mekhi Phifer) encourage him to participate at underground rap battles, despite the fact that he becomes infamous on the battle rap scene for choking in the first round. How does B-Rabbit go from being on the ropes to laying down the knockout verbal punches? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
8 Mile<\/em> has some obvious parallels with Eminem\u2019s rise to fame, but the project started out with a more general focus. \u201cI was looking to make a movie about hip-hop that, like Saturday Night Fever<\/em> did, really puts you in that world,\u201d Brian Grazer told Rolling Stone<\/em> in 2002<\/a>. \u201cI randomly saw Eminem on MTV, and in the span of six or seven seconds, he goes from this icy, urban, scary glare to this fluid, self-effacing, kind of fun character. I had to meet him.\u201d While the rapper and the film producer didn\u2019t connect at first\u2014\u201cEm didn\u2019t say a word for about twenty minutes,\u201d Grazer said. \u201cI was only getting the icy part. It got really uncomfortable\u201d\u2014Eminem was eventually able to open up, and would work with Grazer and screenwriter Scott Silver to get the film made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The underdog storyline guided audiences into finding Eminem sympathetic, but 8 Mile<\/em> wouldn\u2019t work if the MC didn\u2019t turn in a solid performance. To play B-Rabbit, Eminem abandons the smirky characters of his music videos for a more subtle approach. His downcast gaze and resigned facial expressions, as well as his shuffling gait in oversized pant legs and the way he balances on the balls of his feet when he\u2019s standing still, shows us the depression and anxiety B-Rabbit is experiencing in an effective way. Hanson and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto frequently shoot Eminem in profile at the edge of the frame, allowing us to see what\u2019s happening around him as he\u2019s experiencing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Eminem spends much of the running time quietly taking in what\u2019s happening around him, his participation in the closing rap battle earns its triumphant climax. Lyckety-Splyt (Gerald Strike Sanders) all but annihilates B-Rabbit before handing him the mic for his turn. He stumbles out a few syllables and seems poised to choke, but just as members of the audience start heckling him, he rolls forward, his eyes wide and his arms open. His nasally voice and percussive flow contrast with his competitor\u2019s smoother delivery, and his clever use of multisyllabic rhyme and lopsided pronunciations give his freestyle a compelling momentum and an unexpected sense of humor. The antic punchline of his set, in which he drops trou, comes off as almost anticlimactic in the wake of his win over Lyckety-Splyt. Hanson and Prieto\u2019s staging of the battles, which start in two-shots at eye level and creep into low-angled, handheld closeups of Eminem, add to the intensity of his performance and the rush of triumph in the film\u2019s final scenes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 Mile<\/em> was a massive commercial success on its release. Its empathetic depiction of Eminem not only resonated with his fanbase but also won him fans among audiences who may have condemned him in previous years. While the film reshaped the Rocky<\/em> story for Gen-X audiences (down to the last shot, in which B-Rabbit triumphantly raises his fist as he walks down an empty street), its easy-to-digest narrative predicted the kinds of films Rock & Roll Hall of Fame hopefuls would later make as highlight reels for consideration in their nominations, and its long life on basic cable may have played as much of a role in Eminem\u2019s induction as did his obvious talent and influence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the years since the release of 8 Mile<\/em>, Eminem has maintained a strong fanbase and occasionally tried some unexpected approaches to hip hop (like his collaboration with Bette Midler and songs like \u201cAlfred\u2019s Theme\u201d, in which he raps over Gounoud\u2019s \u201cFuneral March for a Marionette\u201d<\/a>), but\u00a0 his Angry Young Man persona has occasionally calcified into an Old Man Yells at Cloud perspective. 8 Mile<\/em> reminds us of the thrilling artist Eminem was at his peak, and it shows us the artist he might one day become.\u00a0 “8 Mile” is now streaming on Netflix<\/a><\/em>, Hulu<\/a>, and Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/8-mile2-1024x679.jpg\")
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