Summary
A man makes it big in gambling with the help of a mentor, but all good things must come to an end…
My Thoughts
Hard Eight is the first feature film by auteur Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will be Blood”, “The Phantom Thread”), and while it may have slipped under the radar back in 1996, it's still a showcase of an incredible young talent, who would soon become one of the most prolific and challenging filmmakers in Hollywood working today. Hard Eight is a much smaller film when compared to PTA's impressive catalog, but it's still chalk full of technicality, impressive dialogue/characters, and plenty of twists to keep the pace flowing nicely and with plenty of inspiration from other films of this breed.
We follow our main protagonist John (John C. Reilly, “Boogie Nights”), who is an out of his luck gambling man, slightly below the average IQ looking for a way to make six grand for his mother's funeral. We first find John moping/sleeping by a diner, where an old gentleman named Sydney (Phillip Baker Hall, “Magnolia”) offers to buy John a cup of coffee and give him a cigarette. With some questions John accepts the strangers offer, after some conversation Sydney offers John some lessons to become a successful gambling man, to which John greatly succeeds at, pays off his debts, and after a two years later title, is making it big at the casinos, all still while under the mentorship of Sydney. There's a sort of mysterious undertone in the first act of this movie, where Sydney takes John under his wing, as the movie progresses the more questions start to get unraveled, why is Sydney doing this for this stranger, what else is going on? It's one of PTA's finest traits to subvert the viewers expectations and he already is showing his genius is this first feature, not giving the audience all the details they need, but just enough for us to want to put the pieces together. It's not until the last half hour where answers are revealed and secrets unveiled.
Between PTA and Quentin Tarantino I don't think there are any better dialogue writers out there. PTA's words flow so naturally and fluently from the characters mouths, the dialogue is so fresh and realistic it's hard to notice that it's been the same static shot for almost 8 minutes. PTA includes the audience with the conversation, they're not just on the outside looking in, but right there in that diner booth with the two lead characters. John falls for a pretty casino worker Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow, “Endgame”) who has a dark secret herself, and after only a three month period the two end up married, and during a bizarre and violent occurrence, the two are thrust to go on the run. PTA has never been an action director, so any sort of violence mainly happens off screen, it's through his lens and dialogue that we understand what is happening. When Sydney gets involved with John's attempt at a ransom, you can feel the hurt in Sydney's voice, and still the audience wonders who this man is to John and now Clementine. And while this crime is happening in one of the hotel's rooms, one of the Casino's regulars Jimmy (Samuel L. Jackson, “Glass”) is fully aware of not only the incident, but also of Sydney's roll in John's life. It's a nice little complex thriller that never leaves the audience feeling overwhelmed or confused like some of PTAs later entrees (“Inherent Vice”, “The Master”), but it has a sense of maturity to it that has only grown further in his career. Hard Eight has a clear vision and is told in linear fashion but never bores, one that never feels over ambitious and never lets up on the tension, although the ending does lack a certain impact, I wish there was just a bit more in the final climax.
What impresses me most about Hard Eight is how technically impressive it is, it's clear PTA loves his tracking shots, from his first film to his latest you are guaranteed a plethora of impressive camera moves and tricks. Working from the beginning with now long time collaborator/cinematographer Robert Elswit, these two (at the time) young artists went out to make their stamp in the cinematic world, and while this one didn't get the attention it deserved from audiences, both were back with a vengeance for PTAs second film Boogie Nights, Hard Eight was merely a stepping stone into bigger and more complex projects. One shot in particular stood out to me, it's a one shot tracking shot starting from the third floor of a hotel complex, it follows our characters down a flight of narrow stairs and into the street, all timed perfectly and without a single cut, the whole thing is about five minutes but the effort that went into making it look seamless is a feat of a veteran, and it was done by a newcomer. It's clear that PTA was born to create cinema, and with every entry who puts out there's almost always something to admire.
Verdict
Overall Hard Eight is one of Paul Thomas Anderson's lesser films, obviously as it's his debut film, but that's not to detract from the finished product, which is a taught, fast paced and mysterious little crime thriller, one that opened many doors for the director and his cinematographer. It flew by people's radars when it was first released, and that's a damn shame, it's a film filled with style and craft, one thats fun to watch knowing the directors catalog and his aesthetic, from where it began to where it is now is truly remarkable. The characters and dialogue flow beautifully from the script to the screen, with great performances to boot. PTA is a patient director and slowly unravels the answers through the story, never giving the audience what they need until it's the perfect time, revealing the twists and raising the stakes, keeping the viewer always guessing and always entertained. The technical camerawork that went into this film is nothing short of amazing, as could be said with any PTA film, it's hard not to keep your eyes peeled to the screen until the final credits roll. And while the films final moments lack the impact I was hoping for it's nonetheless still a very entertaining ride throughout, and one that shows what an early force PTA was.
I give Hard Eight 4.5 stars out of 5.
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