Review of Hard Eight (1997) by Mitch P — 29 Jan 2008
P.T. Anderson's first feature immediately announces his debut as a compelling voice in American cinema. The screenplay and direction of "Hard Eight" are astonishingly excellent for a debut film.
Anderson evokes the best of both film noir and Lumet-styled character study with his hard-boiled screenplay. The performance from Philip Baker Hall is outstanding, and the supporting cast is uniformly good.
This film points the way to "Boogie Nights" (and to a lesser extent, "Magnolia") and displays all of Anderson's maturing talents without being obvious or showy. Anderson's later films are so good that this one often gets overlooked -- it shouldn't.
This review of Hard Eight (1997) was written by Mitch P on 29 Jan 2008.
Hard Eight has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
