Philip Baker Hall, in a towering performance of professionalism is the title character of Sydney. He offers Jimmy a cigarette and a cup of coffee, and then finds out through the conversation his mother's passed on. He offers up an intricate, but rewarding, way of making money in a casino without laying down a card.Flash ahead two years later where Jimmy is with Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow, a good performance). Things seem to be going alright all around, except that Jimmy has a violent (shown off-screen, of course) run-in, and needs Sydney's help. But there's another secret that has yet to be told.
the picture rests entirely on Hall's shoulders, and he carries it admirably. His performance is nuanced and genuine, and he manages to ensnare the viewer even when we are not sure what his motives are.Reilly is equally good, in a turn that opened his way to becoming one of the most reliable character actors in Hollywood, and the same intensity emerges from Paltrow and samuel jackson.Even Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has a brief but memorable role as a cocky gambler, gets his opportunity to shine, showing beyond any doubt that Anderson has a great eye for casting. He also knows how to write: the dialogue flows freely and seamlessly between the players, spawning some of the most affecting, realistic conversations ever heard in a movie.
It's truly a remarkable, though minor key, film. Magnolia and Boogie Nights are epic, in a sense, but Hard Eight, with its slim plot and grim photography, is a sonnet of awful beauty.
Anderson, a natural born master at the craft of film-making, has impressed me greatly with Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and I'd never seen this.It has the same perfection in setting and mood, the same mixture of cold detachment and sad intensity, the same slow but steady and fixating pace as his later works. And as always, he left a lasting effect on me.
3.5/5
recommended
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