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I first
watched Hard Eight on laserdisc after I had seen writer-director
Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up, Boogie Nights. Hard Eight
bears some resemblance to Boogie Nights in that it, too, portrays
people living out at the fringes. But instead of the porn
industry of Los Angeles, it's the gambling casinos of Las
Vegas. Both movies involve people who search out replacements
for families that they've lost or never had to begin with.
Hard Eight successfully blends character driven drama with
noir-ish elements that generate real suspense. There are moments
that are funny, moments that are touching, and moments that
are frightening. All are genuine.
Watching
Hard Eight reminded me of what is great and most powerful
about movies: good writing and good acting. PT Anderson characters
look and feel real, a trait that owes as much to his ability
to choose and work with his actors as it does with his skills
as a writer. Phillip Baker Hall is absolutely arresting in
his performance as Sydney. He is a powerful actor that has
real command of every scene he's in. The thing I like so much
about Phillip Baker Hall is how much he conveys with facial
expression and mannerism, and yet when he speaks he uses his
voice so authoritatively. His work here is terrific. John
C Reilly is also a real find. He always manages to find a
perfect note between being funny and hitting the emotional
pitch of his scenes.
Anderson's
writing always seems to fit these two actors like a tailored
suit. I might be giving away something from the supplements
here, but there's a scene between these two actors from tapes
of the director's workshop as Sundance that show exactly why
Hard Eight is such a terrific movie. Watching this video tape
footage of these two actors, with no production value, no
make-up, nothing. Just dialog and acting. They aren't even
in the same room, they just act out a telephone conversation,
and it works. I felt real emotion in that scene, it actually
choked me up! Samuel L Jackson and Gwyneth Paltrow both offer
terrific support in their roles, as does Philip Seymour Hoffman
in a cameo.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Hard Eight
is proof that if the filmmakers know what they're doing even
a low budget film can look great. Columbia's anamorphic widescreen
DVD, delivered in Hard Eight's 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio,
honors the terrific low key photography of this movie. Black
level is terrific, resulting in solid color fidelity and saturation.
The artificially colorful interiors of the casinos pop of
the screen impressively. Detail and shadow detail are very
good. This is an absolutely solid presentation continuing
Columbia TriStar's obvious commitment to excellence.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The filmmakers
weren't as successful on the audio side as they were with
the video. The mix for this film, presented here in 2.0 Dolby
Surround, lacks balance. First, it is a very loud soundtrack,
particularly the music score, which as actually nicely recorded
and presented, other than the fact that it's a bit too loud
compared to the rest of the soundtrack. Dialog is a bit too
forward in the mix, and is poorly integrated with the rest
of the soundtrack sounding like obvious ADR. On the plus side,
as I mentioned, the jazzy score is recorded and presented
nicely with good separation and soundstaging up front and
nice subtle envelopment in the surrounds. Had the dialog and
overall level been tamed a bit this soundtrack would rate
higher.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? Columbia
has been doing the best transfers around since they got into
DVD. You always know you're going to get anamorphic widescreen
downconverted from high-def. Lately, Columbia has been upping
the ante by offering more supplements and friendlier prices,
and Hard Eight is no exception. The disc offers not one, but
two full running commentaries with writer-director PT Anderson
and PhilipBaker Hall. One track is just the two of them and
is very specific to the film, while the other has Michelle
Satter of Sundance Film Institute, and other members of the
film's crew. Much of this track is more general and related
to the experiences Anderson had with Sundance. He is very
frank and engaging in both, his enthusiasm being very apparent
and even refreshing. Like his characters he talks like a regular
person, he's not "Hollywood" at all. In the commentary with
only Phillip Baker Hall, he is more specific to Hard Eight,
and is a bit more on the ornery side regarding his dealings
with the studio when working on the film. He even reveals
that this movie was written and directed by him as "Sydney,"
and the title "Hard Eight" was forced upon him by the studio.
This commentary is very informative and a lot of fun to listen
to.
The outlandish
narration on the two trailers for the film included here support
Anderson's assertions and make it pretty clear that the studio
had no idea what to think of this film or how to sell it,
a point made by Anderson in his commentary. In addition to
the two trailers, there are cast and crew bios, as well as
a deleted scene, which correctly remains on the cutting room
floor as opposed to being edited back into the film. The real
treat on this disc is the three scenes from the Sundance Filmmaker
Lab. I've already mentioned what is special about one of them
above, and the same holds true for another portraying a restaurant
scene again with Reilly and Phillip Baker Hall. The third
scene is interesting because it is a scene from the film with
a different actor than Samuel Jackson. It's interesting to
see how the dynamics of the scene change with the other actor.
Parting Thoughts
Hard
Eight is a very high value release from Columbia, another
outright winner. The Columbia TriStar logo is beginning to
look like the ultimate stamp of quality on DVD titles.
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