Episode 64: Hard Eight (1996)

I revisit Paul Thomas Anderson’s debut feature, Hard Eight (1996), a film I remembered as being all about gambling but discovered is really about guilt, redemption and surrogate family. I also look at the wonderful performances from Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson, and compare this understated first feature with the remarkable films PTA would make over the next few years.