"Eight" is a 12.5-minute live action short film from 1998, so this one is already 20 years old now. The writer is Tim Clague and this was also the first directorial effort by Stephen Daldry, one of Britain's most known filmmakers these days. And it got him his first BAFTA nod right away too. The story is about soccer (football), something English audiences will especially appreciate. Two years earlier the European Championships were held in England. And for the female audiences, they include a sob story about a young boy's dead father and how the kid deals with it. None of the child actors pursued a career in acting afterward. Instead they went for normal professions. This short film here is a bit too much by the books. It goes for the obvious and sometimes seems a bit pretentious in doing so. I would not call it a failure, but it's also not a very prestigious or creative project I must say. Especially the part I already mentioned with the dead father is tear-jerk and not very imaginative as such. Also I felt listening to the boy's words and thought, it did not feel as if these were accurate for a boy his age. You can't blame Daldry though as the main problem here was the writing and I am not surprised Clague never made it as big as his director. I give this one a thumbs-down overall, not recommended.
Review of Eight
