Hard Eight Movie Review

Hard Eight (1996)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Hard Eight begins with an elderly character by the name of Sydney spotting a young man called John, seemingly down on his luck and offers him a cup of coffee. As they begin talking it becomes clear that John has lost money gambling and Sydney sympathises with the young man and offers to take him back to Vegas to help him get his money back.

We then go 2 years down the line, Sydney and John have become partners of sorts and frequent casinos and make a good living gambling with the knowledge Sydney has shared. We then meet two characters called Clementine and Jimmy and this is when things start to go downhill. I won’t say any more.

Hard Eight is at its core a character study of Sydney, we find out that he no longer has contact with his children which explains why he has taken John under his wing the way he has and why he is very fatherly with Clementine when she comes into the story. We also find out about his somewhat corrupt past which I feel there is a great deal of guilt about. I have to say that Philip Baker Hall does a great job of juggling the complexities of his character, he is both wise and vulnerable at the same time.

Hard Eight is Paul Thomas Anderson’s directorial debut and it is impressive for a first film, I think it is shot really well, it’s intense when it needs to be but at the same time there is a real calmness to the film. You can really see him honing his skills that we would later see in full force in his next two films Boogie Nights and Magnolia.

I do think the film is flawed, the storytelling is clunky at points and it all seems to be stitched together unlike later PTA films that flow effortlessly. It is known that the screenplay was put together relatively fast and the director had little say when it came to final cut so maybe those factors are at play.

So to summarise, it is a great effort for a first feature length project and a great central performance by Philip Baker Hall, there is a nice energy in the camera movement throughout, although the storytelling is slightly slapdash and it is a shame PTA wasn't given more say in the final cut, I do feel needed more time to be perfected.

6.5/10

18/11/2015

Punch-Drunk Love Movie Review

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Punch-Drunk Love is Paul Thomas Anderson’s 4^th feature film and it is in an interesting place in his impressive filmography. This is the film he made after Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999) both of which were very ambitious projects both in length and subject matter so it seems like Punch-Drunk love was a chance for PTA to blow of some creative steam with a shorter and for lack of a better term, more artsy production starring Adam Sandler, who would have guessed it?

Punch-Drunk Love tells the story of Barry Egan, a troubled man who is both endearing and terrifying. Barry works as a plunger salesman who in the words of one of his 7 sisters “does nothing”. The narrative of this film is complex and intertwining, there is one side story of Sandler’s character collecting pudding for an airline deal, one of a phone-sex worker out to rip him off and then at its core a romantic relationship with a girl called Lena. It sounds like a lot to fit into 95 minutes but when PTA is in charge you can pretty much guarantee that it will never get messy.

One great thing about this movie is its style, this film looks beautiful. More or less every shot is bathed in red, white or blue in an almost artificial way which I absolutely love, you could look at any shot out of context and know it comes from this movie, it is so visually consistent and stunning. Lens flare is used a lot in this film too, probably in reference to the directors of the French New Wave which this film reminded me of a great deal, visually at least. It particularly reminded me of Jean-Luc Godard’s Une Femme Est Une Femme (1961).

I also can’t ignore Adam Sandler’s performance, it is outstanding. He really convinces you that behind his naïve, childlike state that there is a genuinely tough and frightening guy. His portrayal of Barry constantly on the verge of snapping amazed me from start to finish and makes me wonder why he hasn’t been given/opted to do more complex roles.

Punch-Drunk Love isn’t my favourite Paul Thomas Anderson movie but it is definitely one of his most interesting. The storytelling is complex, the visuals are outstanding and he always gets the best out of his actors. The film also flies by so I think I will be revisiting it soon. 

7/10

18/11/2015