Review of Hard Eight (1997) by Jani H — 06 Jun 2009

Paul Thomas Anderson's debut feature might be a disappointment to those who are fans of his work but haven't seen this one yet.

'Hard Eight' aka 'Sydney' is very slow paced, calm in fact. P.T Anderson is a talented screenwriter, his following movies are proof of that. The dialogue in 'Hard Eight' is also similar to his other movies but pretty much everything in this movie; the script, dialogue, cinematography, pacing etc is a showing of things to come.

John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall in the lead roles and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who does a short appearence as a gambler, have continued, as of today, their co work with Anderson. Reilly has improved his acting a lot from this movie. I'd even say that he is the weakest of 'em all in 'Hard Eight'. Hall is very good in the lead as Sydney but I would've enjoyed to see more of Hoffman, who's a favourite of mine.

The story is simple and unsurprising. But like I said earlier, all of this is proof of things to come. P.T Anderson does show glimps of his talent with some slick camera work and excellent use of music. I've always enjoyed the music in his films and 'Hard Eight' was no exception.

I did enjoy 'Hard Eight' but I guess it's no surprise to you that I love his work. 'Magnolia', 'There Will Be Blood', 'Boogie Nights' are all excellent films. So, if you're a fan of his work, please do give this one a look but don't expect to see another masterpiece.