The first review: Hard Eight

This picture would not entice to watch this movie. Fortunately I downloaded it after watching. 

This is the first in a series of reviews of Paul Thomas Anderson's movies. I watched his first full length film "Hard Eight" (1996) the day after a week of travel. I was pretty lazy which is a prerequisite for me to watch a movie. Since I am now an official reviewer I also made an effort not to participate in distracting activities while watching the film which is a challenge for me. I also did not read any other reviews or critiques of the film. I wanted to watch Hard Eight with fresh eyes and my own interpretations.

"Hard Eight" begins with a random old guy by the name of Sydney (Phillip Baker Hall) trying to help a younger man named John (John C Reilly) who appears to be broke and in a bad way.

Young guy (John) feels like a guy we all know. He's not to smart, doesn't think long term, but a little quirky and just a little more clever than your average bonehead. He's a nice guy, but lacks skills. Old guy (Sydney) is lovable in a suave, semi-mafioso grandpa kind of way.

The first setting is a diner outside Vegas and the story and characters are engaging from the onset. As the two men sit and talk in a diner I appreciated the clear and up close focus on their faces. The dialogue is clear and easy to follow but an element of mystery is immediately established. Why is the old guy bugging this young guy and trying to help him? The old guy asks young guy what he would do with $50 and young guy says he would buy some food and a room for the night. Old guy critiques young guy's response and tells him that he would give him some money and show him how to make it work for him. For me this kind of sounded like the biblical saying "give a man a fish and he'll eat for day, show a man how to fish and he'll eat for life". And soon after, young guy accuses old guy of being Saint Francis.

Young guy agrees to the help but states he is not going to have sex with old guy if that is what he is after. Young guy warns old guy with this line:  "I know three types of karate. Jijitsu, Aikido, and regular karate".

Young guy agrees to the help and learns how to use the casino system to make a little money and sleep and eat for the night.

The movie then moves to the casino world in Reno, Nevada where John and Sydney are now the best of pals but in a dad and son kind of way. John is doing well and wearing suits that match Sydney's. At this point we meet Jimmy (Samuel Jackson) and Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow). We learn that Sydney doesn't respect Jimmy but would like to take Clementine under his wing. She is schlepping drinks at the casino and sleeping with guys for extra cash. Like John was in the beginning of the movie, she's in the female version of a pretty bad place. I appreciated the little details of her character. Her cheap lipstick bleeds onto her upper lip but not in an obvious way. It seems as though part two of the story will be some sort of Cinderella fix up of Clementine though I'm sure PTA has a more interesting twist for us in store.

 Soon after we meet a redneck meathead character in the casino who is a young Phillip Seymour Hoffman but we never see him again.

About half way through the movie I decided to put it down and read a book. I think the casinos were starting to get a little depressing. And the characters were smoking so many cigarettes I started to feel as though I had smoked a pack myself. Or maybe I was just bored. Several hours later I opened it back up and here is the deal.

The second half of the movie was mainly comprised of some hostage and black mail scenes with Jimmy, Clementine, and young guy. This stuff is kind of boring to me so I had to play a video game on the side. We find out that nurturing old guy killed young guy's dad and that's why he feels obligated to play a father role with him. In a more traditional mafia way he cleans up all the hostage black mail messes and tells young guy he loves him. Young guy goes off to Niagara Falls with his bride Clementine. So it's a somewhat grim but happy ending. I didn't really sniff out any more bible references in the movie.

Overall it was a good movie. Maybe not my style so much but it was decent. The acting was great, the storyline had some interesting twists. The cinematography was well done and the attention to detail was not lost on me. You won't find me telling someone they have to watch this movie but you won't catch me saying it's a piece of crap either. If you are a dude you'll probably like this movie more than I did.