Review of Hard Eight (1997) by Paul Z — 08 Aug 2008

Philip Baker Hall, who I've never seen in a lead role before and does a fine job in one, plays a very realistic person, and also a complete mystery to the audience. He is honest and sincere, but never completely on the same track as everyone else. He knows how to shortchange a casino and knows how to clean up certain types of messes, but who is he? Hall's portrayal is a very memorable one, a very deep and different sort of main character.

John C. Reilly proves once again to be one of nowadays' most versatile and likable actors and Gwyneth Paltrow, whose career is not quite consistent with good performances, definitely turns in a good one here. Samuel L. Jackson brings an element of grit to the cast and, like Philip Baker Hall, has an unpredictable disposition. His scenes are riveting.

Paul Thomas Anderson's script is not quite a crime film and not quite a crime drama. It's about the characters and the goings-on that would normally populate one of the two. We are intrigued throughout its slow, steady unraveling not because of the subject matter but because of the characters and the dialogue, and because we truly do not have a full understanding of what is happening until the last fifteen minutes.

Anderson, a natural born master at the craft of film-making, has impressed me greatly with Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and I'd never seen this earlier and lesser known film of his. It has the same perfection in setting and mood, the same mixture of cold detachment and sad intensity, the same slow but steady and fixating pace as his later works. And as always, he leaves a lasting effect on his audience.