HARD EIGHT aka SYDNEY (1996)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Paul Thomas Anderson's "Hard Eight" is not about gambling or the roll of the dice at the crap tables. It is the story of one desolate man seeking to resolve other people's problems through his own sheer influence and ability to do so, and not for purely selfish reasons. Yet this man has a history and a past that comes back to haunt him.
Philip Baker Hall plays this sour-faced man, a professional gambler known as Sydney who, at the start of the film, approaches an unlucky joe named John (John C. Reilly) at a cafe and truck stop. Sydney offers John his help, mostly fifty dollars and a cup of coffee. Apparently, John has lost his bets playing at a Vegas casino, trying to come up with enough money to pay for his mother's funeral. "I admire the intention. I can't say it is wise, though," says Sydney. The offer is to take John to Vegas and show him how to make some money, enough for a room and a meal. The process involves an old trick using a rate card, which will be enough cash to last John for a day or more.
Fade out to a couple of years later in Reno, not Vegas. Sydney is still gambling at the casino, playing his keno cards and tipping waitresses. There is one waitress he is keen on, Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow), a flirtatious waitress who does double duty as a prostitute to pay for her rent and her car. It could cost her waitressing job but Sydney decides to keep it quiet after witnessing her leaving a motel room. He wants to help her, and knows she is enamored with John. Ultimately, Sydney brings them together, as if they were his own kids whom he is looking out for.
"Hard Eight" smoothly handles these characters with growing and knowing affection towards them, accepting them as the people they are without condescending or moralizing them. Sydney is quiet, introspective and has a deep, authoritative voice that envelops you, as it does John and Clementine. His soggy eyes and arched eyebrows give the impression of a man who has spent a lot of time inside a casino, and has seen it all. We know little about him as a character except that he has two estranged kids and was once divorced. But when a stunning revelation is unveiled, it becomes clear he is not all he is cracked up to be, or maybe there are mistaken stories about his past. One is never sure, and Paul Thomas Anderson, who wrote and directed this promising debut, never tells.
Clementine just wants to pay her bills, but is unsure of her own future. Will it be as a waitress who flirts to get tips and doubles as a hooker, or will she open a beauty salon with whatever money she can save? Could she have a future with John? John is a nobody who becomes somebody inside the casino, thanks to his connections with Sydney. John is also friends with Jimmy (Samuel L. Jackson), a two-timing, loud security manager who knows the secrets of Sydney's past. Exactly what is John's job inside the casino is not clear, or if he even has a job (he is adept at getting free cable). Nevertheless, he remains loyal to Sydney, following around him like a puppy and dressing like him to boot. None of these characters are quite what they seem initially, and gradually we realize that their aspirations are severely limited.
Paul Thomas Anderson's assured direction is never less than mesmerizing. His choice of gliding Steadicam shots inside the casino, particularly when tracking Sydney's movements, are wonderful and never call attention to themselves. Other sequences, like the diner scenes involving John and Clementine's meetings with Sydney, are beautifully composed with alarmingly appropriate close-up shots. I also admire the scene between Clementine and Sydney at his hotel room where she thinks she is there to have sex. Sydney stands in front of her as she sits on the bed, yet we only see him from below the waistline. It gives the impression that he is more paternal to her than just another client.
Anderson, who went on to the phenomenal works of pure glitz and sadness of "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," never falters in dialogue, direction or pacing (Barbara Tulliver did the seamless editing). If I have a complaint, it is that it ends too soon (a common factor in independent cinema). I could have sat for another hour, listening to these characters and their worries, their fears, and their losses. A couple of sequels would have been more than warranted.
Also known under the more appropriate title, "Sydney," "Hard Eight" is a gloomy, hardly joyous noir tale, more enervated in its stylistic mood and atmosphere than glittery. It shows Vegas and Reno, minus the neon and the glamour. It replaces both with sights of coffee cups, cigarettes and ashtrays, overcast skies outside diners, and dimly lit hotel rooms and casino tables. It is the place of broken dreams, and John, Clementine and Sydney are all there trying to survive and move on. But it is Philip Baker Hall as Sydney who brings the soul and pathos to the film, making it clearly his own. His cool, calm precision at handling matters, despite the fact that his past is creeping up on him at a steady rate, delineates a lost soul trying to maintain his composure. Sydney is one of the most enigmatic and unforgettable characters of the 1990's.
