The Screen Addict | Jennifer 8
I adore Andy Garcia. He made The Godfather Part III (1990) a worthy threequel, out-Clooney’d George Clooney in The Ocean's Trilogy, and don’t even get me started on his performances in The Untouchables (1987) and Black Rain (1989).
Garcia starred in a couple of high-profile, well-received Thrillers during The Nineties, but one that somehow escaped my attention is Jennifer Eight (1992). I corrected that oversight recently, and am here to report that The Hero from Havana once again did not disappoint.
Bruce Robinson – director of Withnail & I (1987) – is not necessarily the filmmaker I would expect to be behind this rather grim genre-exercise, but the story goes that he wrote the screenplay just to convince executives he could do commercial stuff, too. Unfortunately, J8 flopped, and Robinson didn’t make another film until The Rum Diary (2011) 19 years later.
I completely get what he was trying to do, though. All the elements for a formulaic serial-killer Thriller are in place – a moody score, perpetual heavy rain, Lance Henriksen as the gruff local detective… The works.
Garcia actually was Robinson’s second choice to star – the director had originally wanted Al Pacino to play the dogged homicide detective investigating a multiple murder case. Who knows, perhaps Pacino had had his fill of serial killers after doing Sea of Love (1989) three years earlier. Either way, it worked out great for both thesps – Garcia more than owns the part, and Pacino eventually revisited the genre with Insomnia (2002) several years later.
J8 features quite the supporting cast as well. The great Kathy Baker – who I hope to see play Helen Mirren’s twin sister one day – stars as Henriksen’s wife, and the always lovely Uma Thurman is the titular witness / victim. In small but pivotal roles we see Bob Gunton and John Malkovich, who both appear to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.
It’s impossible to ignore the striking similarities between J8 and Se7en (1995) – arguably the best serial-killer flick ever made. Robinson’s film was released a full three years before Fincher’s masterpiece, however. Could it be that he and Andrew Kevin Walker took some cues from J8?
Having said that, I think I can also see where Robinson got his inspiration to write a commercial Thriller. J8 in its turn takes several cues from Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
To be clear – I’m not trying to dismiss any of these similarities as laziness or bad form by the filmmakers. Film scholars describe the conscious or subconscious copying of other works as “Hidden Continuity”, and even the most celebrated auteurs do it.
Spotting these (perceived) connections always brings me great joy, and it is one of the reasons I love the movies so much. But don’t take my word for it. Watch TSotL, J8 and Se7en back-to-back-to-back and see what you think.
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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict