8 Mile

8 Mile Road is the accepted dividing line between Black Detroit and White Detroit. 8 Mile, directed by Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys) and starring rapper Eminem, is the story of a white man who grew up on the black side of that line. It is Eminem’s story in some ways, though it is not a biopic. Set in 1995, it is in part the story of the evolution of the second wave of rap and of Eminem’s re-invention of it. In the film, his character Jimmy (aka B-Rabbit) can’t even stay on stage the first time he tries a rap battle. Juggling his fractured love life, his mother and sister’s precarious trailer park existence, and his desire to succeed, the film follows Rabbit from his job in a stamping plant to the rap battles where he finally breaks through by using the most shocking weapon of all — honesty. — Craig Holden