Hard Eight Review
Filling the gap between the violent chic of Quentin_Tarantino and the clever obtrusiveness of the Coen Brothers, Paul_Thomas_Anderson was one of the most critically lauded filmmakers to emerge in the late 1990s. Before the stylistic explosions of his breakthrough Boogie_Nights (1997) and its follow-up, Magnolia (1999), however, he made the equally skillful Hard Eight (originally titled Sydney). Barely released in theaters, the film was rediscovered on video following the success of Boogie_Nights. In this first outing, Anderson asserted his strength at working with actors: at the heart of the film is the assured performance of Philip_Baker_Hall as a melancholic Las Vegas father figure. Gwyneth_Paltrow successfully plays against her nice-girl image as the film's none-too-bright prostitute, and John_C._Reilly and Samuel_L._Jackson round out the intimate cast. Prior to Hard Eight, Hall's best-known big-screen performance was his stunning interpretation of Richard Nixon in Robert_Altman's Secret_Honor (1984); he and Reilly would continue to appear in Anderson's films. Brendon Hanley, Rovi
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