More than just a movie about pool.

Rating: 8/10 (14 December 2019)

Yes, a film about pool, but not in the traditional sense you might be thinking of. The movie's title helps with the understanding of the context a bit.
We have a pool player, Fast Eddie Nelson (Paul Newman) who is a hustler, and has a manager who helps him conducting his schemes. A post-WWII America, shown in this particular context as a somewhat bleak scenario, in the gritty underground pool scene where only bitter men reside.
We are introduced to more characters worthy of mentioning like Minnesota Fats, the reigning champion and best pool player in town, practically unbeateable, the tragic Sarah (Piper Laurie) who is Eddie's drunken girlfriend. George C. Scott plays Bert Gordon, who intends to act as Eddie's manager in order to get money out of him, out of his remarkable talent as a pool player.
Eddie is young, talented, arrogant and naive, all at the same time; and sometimes he doesn't even know what to do with himself. He leads such an
one dimensional life, revolving around whatever he can get around his hustling schemes, and sometimes spending low quality time with his girlfriend or other associates. We could argue that their lives are heavily miserable; Eddie is a talented loser, he isn't smart enough to use his talents through different means or in more appropriate environments.
It is a more than interesting character study, a film to analyze profundly in its entirety, filled with deep, intense and acute social commentary.
Pretty much everyone acting-wise gives their very best, channeling their conflicted emotions of self-destruction by means of sincere and heart-rending portrayals.
The Hustler is so much more than just a film about pool. It's about wasting life away, having a gift and succumb to cheap trickery in order to make a buck. A dissatisfying grim road to wander one's life through, and these actors play that perfectly. A must-see.