Day 13 - Hard Eight

I'm really glad I chose this one.

Hard Eight is Paul Thomas Anderson's first full-length film directing, only a year before Boogie Nights. PTA was a ripe, young 26 at the time. While very good in my opinion, especially for PTA's first feature-length film, it is not perfect. However, easily observable are some of his "watermarks" (if you will).

One such watermark is his use of long, uncut, "shaky-camera" shots following the character (see the explosion scene in There Will Be Blood, it will blow your mind).

Another is less specific: use of sharp dialogue over punchy, plot-quickening dialogue. PTA personalizes his characters to a degree that, even through idle conversation, they tell their own stories. A great example of this can be found in Hard Eight's first scene, in which Sydney (Philip Baker Hall) and John (John C. Reilly) talk about Vegas over cigarettes and coffee. I think that this sacrifice of rapid plot development for advanced characterization is admirable, especially in an age laden with Riddley-Scott-style editing and pacing.

Thankfully, not everyone chooses to butcher 600-year-old tales of men garbed in lincoln green despoiling the cruel and aiding the oppressed. Yes, I'm still mad.

This is the fourth (of five) of PTA's films I've seen -- Magnolia is last, and I'll be watching it soon -- but having seen his most recent films, There Will Be Blood and Punch-Drunk Love, I can say that Hard Eight is a crucial milestone in Anderson's career.