Hard Eight
- Thu, Jul 24
The Frida Cinema's seating is first-come, first-serve. For our Midnight Screenings, please plan on arriving by 11:30pm to ensure ample time for parking, picking up concessions, and securing optimal seats. Screening will begin promptly at midnight.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Run Time: 102 min. Release Year: 1996
Starring: F. William Parker, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall, Samuel L. Jackson
Long before the tracking shots and 70mm epics, Paul Thomas Anderson burst onto the scene with Hard Eight—a sleek, slow-burn neo-noir about lost souls who take us in…and the secrets they bring with them.
The legendary Philip Baker Hall stars as Sydney, a professional gambler with ice in his veins and a soft spot for the desperate. When he meets down-on-his-luck John (John C. Reilly), he offers him more than just a hand up—he offers him a future. But when a cocktail waitress (Gwyneth Paltrow) and a reckless criminal (Samuel L. Jackson) enter the mix, things unravel fast—and quiet dignity turns to blood-soaked reckoning.
Shot with precision and restraint, and humming with tension beneath every word, Hard Eight is a masterclass in economy, tone, and atmosphere. It’s PTA at his most subtle—and still unmistakably him.