Product: 8 Women (2002)
Rating: 4.0
Witty use of asorted plots
8 Femmes is a movie composed of elements from comedy, film noir and musical. The setting is pretty 50s and 60s, with all those glamorous and colourful wardrobe in a finely decorated and sophisticated house. The story starts with the homecoming of an overseas student daughter for Christmas and the death of her father. The father actually didn't show his face much in the movie, but because of his death, all the women in the house become suspects of the case. At the same time, it seems that they were cut off from the outside world due to the bad snow storm outside and the careful work of the murderer in the house. All of a sudden, these women were suspecting each other, forcing each other to tell the truth and reveal their secrets, which all happened to be plots used by many typical 60s movies. As the threat comes closer and closer, everyone of them gave up their mask and show their real character to protect themselves, but would that really help, or just makes the case more complicated? In just one day, they found out all the love and hatred among them, and are psychological naked in front of each other. The interesting part was that each woman has their own theme song that comes out just from no where from time to time, which makes the movie awkward but funny at the same time. The dancing is very 60s but the lyrics are definitely woven into the storyline. The whole film was presented in a awkward but at the same time very unique look. People who look for a serious comedy will find it strange, people who look for a serious thriller will find it too light, people who look for a musical will find its musical elements not adequate to tell the story. However, this movie is a hybrid of all the above elements and this makes it stands out from other movies. Certainly, you will need to have a very open minded heart to watch this movie and try not to categorise it into any familiar genre, otherwise it will be a difficult movie for one to appreciate. If you can stay open in your movie experience, this is surely an enjoyable movie, despite its occasional messy moments.