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Hard Eight (1996)

Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson

COUNTRY
USA

Genre
Drama/Crime

NORWEGIAN TITLE
Hard Eight

RUNNING TIME
102 minutes

Producer:
Robert Jones
John Lyons

Screenwriter:
Paul Thomas Anderson


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Sydney Philip Baker Hall ˝
John Finnegan John C. Reilly
Clementine Gwyneth Paltrow ˝
Jimmy Samuel L. Jackson

Young craps player

Philip Seymour Hoffman

 

Review

Paul Thomas Anderson's debut film is a fine mood piece set in Reno, Nevada about an ageing sophisticated gambler (Philip Baker Hall) and his young, guileless soon-to-be protégé (John C. Reilly). The film has an honesty about the story's unremarkableness which makes it effective, and Anderson's skilful pacing and attractive lighting gives the picture ambience. This is like your down-to-earth, guy-next-door Tarantino. A superb lead performance by Baker Hall paves the way, and Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson and Gwyneth Paltrow contribute some of their most unaffected work – Paltrow with a wonderful character against type.

Copyright © 21.04.2021 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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