8 Ball (2008) User Reviews

professional and profound

[jpm6871 · 9/10 · 29 April 2009]

I saw this movie at the Boston Film Festival before a feature and I didn't know anything about it, but it ended up being much better than the feature that came after it and I'm glad we got to see it. The acting was great, especially the main characters, and the result was very emotional and powerful. There is a twist ending that I won't spoil, but I was very surprised by the way that different stories came together in such a short time. After the movie I felt like I would want to see these stories developed in a feature, because they were very condensed. The movie was also filmed very professionally and looked like a mini-feature, and there was a lot of attention to colors and style. The idea behind the story was profound and I liked how it used pool balls as an allegory in a clever way.

Excellent writing & directing.

[dr_shampanier · 9/10 · 28 June 2008]

The writer/director succeeded to bring 3 human stories tangled with mishaps and turn them into one optimistic end in a short movie. The script is well balanced, clear & sharp. The characters are well defined and with very careful directing, got the actors to express with a huge sensitivity, the right lines, and display the ambivalence of their reality: The tough ex-con with the delicate parental feelings, the young hustler with the limits of decency and fairness, and in between, the small kid with toughness and need for family. The allegory of the billiard table as a small universe with set rules, made to be broken, is well defined in the collision that unexpectedly breaks the rule and sets a new situation, and brings the plot to an unexpected end.

brilliant

[lights-8 · 10/10 · 1 July 2008]

The only short film that ever made me cry. The way that everything comes together at the end was so powerful. The actors were top notch and the story was beautiful and very clever. I read a lot more into the film after watching it a second time. There are a lot of subtleties that you don't expect from a short film. I've seen a lot of thesis films from different film schools and I'm usually not impressed by short films but 'eight ball' was one of the best ones I've seen. The soundtrack was excellent too, especially the song in the middle and the end music. I loved the film and I loved the ending. It will bring you to tears. I don't know if they have the DVD online but I recommend getting it.