Hard Eight

Hard Eight-1996

Whenever someone asks the question, "Who is this generations' Martin Scorsese?", the obvious answer is of course Scorsese himself. However, what they really mean is who is the next great auteur? Who is the director that will be synonymous with great filmmaking? The type of director that will create films that will draw crowds solely because of who is behind the camera? In that case, the clear cut answer in my opinion is Paul Thomas Anderson. Each of his last four films, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood are already considered new classics, and in the case of There Will Be Blood, many people considered it the greatest film of the last decade. But before these four films, Anderson was just a student as the Sundance Institute trying to craft his first film, Hard Eight. While not as perfectly spun a story as his latter works, Anderson definitely shows the germ of a great future with his debut work.

The film starts out simply enough with a man named Sydney, played by Philip Baker Hall, sees a destitute man outside a coffee shop and offers him some coffee and conversation. The man, John, played by John C. Reilly, has just lost all his money in Las Vegas in an attempt to make enough money to bury his mother. Sydney offers John a proposition: he will give John $50 if he will follow Sydney's instructions on how to cheat a casino out of money. John agrees to do so and the $50 quickly becomes a several hundred dollars then a few thousand. Thus begins the friendship of Sydney and John.

Years later, the two are inseparable, with John following Sydney as a child follows a hero, mimicking how Sydney acts, enjoying the same drinks and hoping to have the same manners as him. This duo is splintered when they both meet Clementine, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Sydney wants to help her much like he did John, while John quickly falls in love with her. From here, Sydney and John's relationship starts to take them down different paths as their friendship goes down unusual turns.

Sydney teaching John the ins and outs of what he does.

Hard Eight seems to be much more fractured and unbalanced then latter Anderson films. The film seems fragmented into sections, with a script that seems like Anderson knew his beginning and end and winged the in between. Yet, even through this, the germ of Anderson's great future can still be seen. His trademark fast zooms and tracking shots are first seen here, almost as if he is practicing for what is to come. Also, Hard Eight's theme of fractured families fits in perfectly with his strong theme of family in his follow up films. Clearly, Anderson has a direction he wants to go in, but just hasn't found the right outlet to perfect it quite yet. 

Anderson surrounds himself with a phenomenal cast and crew that will benefit him down the line. Cinematographer Robert Elswit, who will go on to win the Oscar for There Will Be Blood, starts to navigate what Anderson will utilize as his style. The light score of Jon Brion and collaboration with Aimee Mann will feature heavily in future Anderson films, most notably Magnolia, but their music undercuts Hard Eight quite well prior to that work. Anderson also starts to wrangle together his corral of great actors he will use again and again with Hall, Reilly and featuring a cameo by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Reilly plays what he knows best: the likable and vulnerable protagonist the audience will root for. Reilly balances self-control and rash decisions in situations that will just leave you thinking, "he just doesn't know any better." Hall is calm and collected, choosing his dialogue carefully as he interacts with even the most minor of characters. 

Anderson seems to be at practice in Hard Eight, attempting techniques and style that he will utilize greatly in his later films. With Hard Eight, Anderson has the spark of promise that with some reworking, helps make him one of the great directors of our time, even if his first film doesn't showcase this quite as much.

Rating: B