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8 Mile (film)

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8 Mile
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCurtis Hanson
Produced byCurtis Hanson
Brian Grazer
Jimmy Iovine
StarringEminem
Kim Basinger
Brittany Murphy
Mekhi Phifer
Tashiena Pratt
Michael Shannon
Proof
Xzibit
Eugene Byrd
CinematographyRodrigo Prieto
Edited byJay Rabinowitz
Music byEminem
Jeff Bass
Proof
Obie Trice
Xzibit
50 Cent
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
November 8, 2002
Running time
118 minutes[1]
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40,000,000
Box office$242,875,078

8 Mile is a 2002 American hip-hop drama film, directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, and Mekhi Phifer.

The film is an account of a young rapper named Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. (Eminem) growing up in a poor area of mid-1990s Detroit as he struggles for respect among his peers, mostly African-American. The film is loosely based on the life of Eminem.

The film was a financial success, was well received critically, and won an Academy Award for the Best Original Song for Eminem's "Lose Yourself", becoming the first hip hop song in a movie to win an Academy Award.[2]

Plot

In 1995, Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem) is a young and frustrated blue-collar worker, struggling with different aspects of his life. He has moved back north of 8 Mile to the rundown trailer home in Warren of his alcoholic mother, Stephanie (Kim Basinger), his sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield), and Stephanie's abusive live-in boyfriend Greg Buehl (Michael Shannon). Jimmy is focused on getting his music career started, but he seems unable to catch a break. Just prior to the events of the film, he ends a relationship with his recently-impregnated girlfriend, Janeane (Taryn Manning), and during the film, begins a new relationship with Alex (Brittany Murphy), whom he meets at the factory that he works at when she shows up one day looking for her brother.

Jimmy comes to realize that his life has remained largely the same since he graduated from high school. At first, he considers himself a victim of his circumstances and blames others for his problems. Over time, though, Jimmy begins to take responsibility for the direction of his life and realizes that he has a large degree of control over how it will go. He begins to question whether his group of friends, including Future (Mekhi Phifer), are holding themselves back from moving on to bigger things. With his onstage choke still fresh in his mind, he appears to decide that he will postpone his dream of a music career in favor of devoting more time to his day job and becoming more independent.

Jimmy's new-found responsibility becomes evident to his supervisor at the factory as well. At the beginning of the film, when Jimmy requests extra shifts, his supervisor laughs at him (because of his tendency to be late to work), but by the end, Jimmy's improved attitude and performance earn him the extra shifts he had originally asked for. However, a late night shift conflicts with the next battle tournament. Jimmy initially doesn't want to go, but a visit from Alex changes his mind. Paul, a co-worker whom Jimmy stood up for earlier in the film, agrees to cover for him.

The battle acts as kind of a "final conflict" with a rap group called "The Leaders of the Free World", who have harassed Jimmy throughout the film. This begins with the deterioration of Jimmy's friendship with Wink. The latter continually pesters Jimmy everyday with promises that he can help him "get big"- that he knows people with influence, and that Wink can hook Jimmy up with the support he needs. However, he is betrayed when Jimmy shows up at the studio and finds Wink having sex with Alex, Jimmy beats Wink up as Alex tries breaking it up. In revenge, Wink shows up with Papa Doc and the other members of "Free World" to jump Jimmy outside his home in the trailer park in front of Lily, with the mob badly beating him, and leaving him with a black eye that's present at the final battle.

Jimmy's friends hail him throughout the film as an incredible rapper, but until this point the film only shows snippets of his skills. The tournament has three rounds, and in each of them Jimmy faces a member of the "Leaders of the Free World". Jimmy wins both of the first two rounds with progressively more impressive freestyle raps. In each one, including the last he goes over the 45 (90 seconds in the final battle) second limit and the beat gets cut but he is still rapping which further showcases his abilities. In the last round, he is paired against Papa Doc (Anthony Mackie), the tournament's most feared battler and Jimmy's main antagonist throughout the storyline. Jimmy is aware that Doc knows all his weak points, so he decides to address them preemptively with his freestyle. Jimmy acknowledges without shame his white trash roots and the various humiliations the Free World clique have inflicted on him, and then uses the difficult life he's had as a springboard to reveal the truth about Papa Doc: despite passing himself off as a thug, he has a privileged background. Doc, whose real name is Clarence, attended Cranbrook, a private school located in upper class Bloomfield Hills, and lived all his life in a stable two-parent household.

Jimmy makes a reference to "Shook Ones (Part II)", the beat that the DJ is spinning, by calling Papa Doc a "halfway crook", which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Doc is left speechless in rebuttal, drops the mic and backs down. As Jimmy leaves the venue, Future suggests that he stay and celebrate his victory while also offering a position that would allow him to host battles at The Shelter. Jimmy refuses, claiming he has to get back to work and do everything his own way, to which Future agrees. The final shot displays Jimmy walking away from the shelter, more confident of the future ahead of him.

Cast

Music

Main article: 8 Mile (soundtrack)

Untitled

Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile is the official music soundtrack to the 2002 movie 8 Mile, starring Eminem, who features on five of the tracks on this soundtrack. It was released under the Shady/Interscope label and spawned the massive hit single Lose Yourself. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 Albums Chart that year with over 702,000 copies sold and 507,000 sold in the second week also finishing the year as the fifth best-selling album of 2002 with US sales of 3.2 million, despite only two months of release. It also reached #1 on the UK Compilations Charhe Australian ARIAnet Albums Chart. It featured Eminem's worldwide chart-topping single, "Lose Yourself". It also spawned a follow up soundtrack, More Music from 8 Mile, consisting of songs that appear in 8 Mile that were current singles during the film's time setting of 1995. The album was also made in a clean edition removing most of the strong profanity and violent content.

Track listing

All tracks written and composed by Eminem.

No.TitleWriter(s){{{extra_column}}}Length
1."Lose Yourself" (Performed by Eminem) M. Mathers, J. Bass, L. RestoEminem, Luis Resto, Jeff Bass5:31
2."Love Me" (Performed by Eminem, Obie Trice & 50 Cent)C. Jackson, S. King, M. Mathers, L. Resto, O. TriceEminem4:30
3."8 Mile" (Performed by Eminem)M. Mathers, L. RestoEminem6:00
4."Adrenaline Rush" (Performed by Obie Trice)A. Thelusma, Obie TriceRed Spyda3:48
5."Places To Go" (Performed by 50 Cent)C. Jackson, M. Mathers, L. RestoEminem4:15
6."Rap Game" (Performed by Eminem, 50 Cent and D12)V. Carlisle, D. Holton, R. Johnson, M. Mathers, O. Moore, D. Porter, L. RestoDenaun Porter, Eminem5:53
7."8 Miles and Runnin'" (Performed by Jay-Z & Freeway)S. Carter, M. Mathers, L. Pridgen, L. RestoEminem4:08
8."Spit Shine" (Performed by Xzibit)A. Joiner, D. PorterDenaun Porter3:39
9."Time of My Life" (Performed by Macy Gray)M. Elizondo, Macy Gray, D. RossD. Ross, J. Gamble, Mike Elizondo4:21
10."U Wanna Be Me" (Performed by Nas)N. Jones, C. ThompsonChucky Thompson, Nas3:50
11."Wanksta" (Performed by 50 Cent)M. Clervoix, J.B. Freeman, C. JacksonJ. Freeman, Sha Money XL3:38
12."Wastin' My Time" (Performed by Boomkat)T. Manning, K. Manning, J. TaylorK. Manning, M. Pradler3:37
13."R.A.K.I.M." (Performed by Rakim)W. Griffith, L. E. King, D. PorterDenaun Porter4:23
14."That's My Nigga Fo' Real" (Performed by Young Zee)D. Battle, D. RossD. Ross, J. Gamble4:45
15."Battle" (Performed by Gang Starr)J.R. Baxter, P. Chapman, K. Elam, K. Holley, A. Johnson, N. Jones, Chris E. Martin, K. Mochita, S. Moltke, M. WilliamsDJ Premier, Guru2:56
16."Rabbit Run" (Performed by Eminem)M. Mathers, L. RestoEminem, Luis Resto3:10

Parodies

Reception

8 Mile opened to relatively positive reviews, with much of the praise going to Eminem's performance. It holds a 74% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4]

The song "Lose Yourself", with music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto and lyrics by Eminem, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Awards for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song. "Lose Yourself" also placed 93rd on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list. The song was later included on Eminem's greatest hits album Curtain Call: The Hits.

References

  1. ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=8mile.htm
  2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298203/trivia
  3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437745/episodes
  4. ^ [www.rottentomatoes.com/m/8_mile/ "8 Mile Movie Reviews"]. RottenTomatoes.com. Retrieved 2008-07-30. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
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Awards
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Original Song
2002 		Succeeded by
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