Lotus666
06-08-09, 10:32 PM
Here's another review I did in 2006...
Went to see this movie last week with a gang of 9 workmates, plus TB. We nearly took up an entire row in the cinema. Reactions were mainly favourable - with one not sure and 2 not liking the movie at all.
3 males in the review team! Was fun watching 'em squirm - brave souls that they are. But, now for that (long overdue) review...
Hard Candy is a very taut psychological thriller about a 14 year old girl, Hayley...who has been chatting to a 30 something fashion photographer called Jeff through internet chat rooms and services. Appearing to be very mature and well read - she tells Jeff she wishes to hook up to which he agrees.
They decide to meet up at Nighthawks, the scene of a disappearance of a girl some weeks previously. At first unwilling to take her home, he ends up taking her back to his place to collect a Goldfrapp CD. When she starts mixing alcoholic drinks and insisting on a photo shoot, things go from bad to worse - but for whom?
>>>SLIGHT SPOILERS ALERT<<<
Awakening from a spiked drink - Jeff finds himself tied up to a chair, with a less than friendly Hayley about to extract vigilante style justice over the missing girl, Donna. Finding photos she sees as proof of his pedophilia...she commences her psychological demolition of him via "castration".
From this point on - things start to get squeamish. Not for the faint hearted (though you see nothing as such) - all things implied are enough to set you on the edge of your seat.
With incredible photography throughout, and a deeply disturbing and haunting soundtrack, Hard Candy is a very original idea which is well executed and presented. Going the way of "Sleuth", whereby only 2 characters appear throughout (apart from 2 very minor extras), makes for a very intimate and frightening journey through the psyches of 2 scarred individuals.
Ellen Page is very convincing and scary as Hayley, which makes you question whether she is actually the stalker and just a tad insane rather than the would be victim.
Patrick Wilson is quite dishy and slightly sympathy inducing as Jeff, the possible pedophile who may just be a psychopathic killer.
The first half of the film is very ambiguous, and even when evidence still seems to point to some wrongdoing - the viewer can still find themselves swinging between emotions of what is right and what is wrong. A very plot turning film with a twist at the end.
Thought provoking, and very much a topic of hot debate on the IMDB boards...this film rightly won awards at the Catalonian International Film Festival...and deserves to win a lot more.
Without getting into too much depth - you are never sure who is really the hunter and who is the prey. Further discussion of this subject is encouraged in Babel - where a thread will be raised for those interested.
If you can stomach sitting through this - the film rates a hard 9 out of 10 for myself, and about a 9.5 out of 10 for TB. Our "guest" film reviewers rate this from a 4 (for the two who didn't like) to a 6 - 7 (for the not sure) up to the 9.
A very different film - as usual, well worth the watch!
Went to see this movie last week with a gang of 9 workmates, plus TB. We nearly took up an entire row in the cinema. Reactions were mainly favourable - with one not sure and 2 not liking the movie at all.
3 males in the review team! Was fun watching 'em squirm - brave souls that they are. But, now for that (long overdue) review...
Hard Candy is a very taut psychological thriller about a 14 year old girl, Hayley...who has been chatting to a 30 something fashion photographer called Jeff through internet chat rooms and services. Appearing to be very mature and well read - she tells Jeff she wishes to hook up to which he agrees.
They decide to meet up at Nighthawks, the scene of a disappearance of a girl some weeks previously. At first unwilling to take her home, he ends up taking her back to his place to collect a Goldfrapp CD. When she starts mixing alcoholic drinks and insisting on a photo shoot, things go from bad to worse - but for whom?
>>>SLIGHT SPOILERS ALERT<<<
Awakening from a spiked drink - Jeff finds himself tied up to a chair, with a less than friendly Hayley about to extract vigilante style justice over the missing girl, Donna. Finding photos she sees as proof of his pedophilia...she commences her psychological demolition of him via "castration".
From this point on - things start to get squeamish. Not for the faint hearted (though you see nothing as such) - all things implied are enough to set you on the edge of your seat.
With incredible photography throughout, and a deeply disturbing and haunting soundtrack, Hard Candy is a very original idea which is well executed and presented. Going the way of "Sleuth", whereby only 2 characters appear throughout (apart from 2 very minor extras), makes for a very intimate and frightening journey through the psyches of 2 scarred individuals.
Ellen Page is very convincing and scary as Hayley, which makes you question whether she is actually the stalker and just a tad insane rather than the would be victim.
Patrick Wilson is quite dishy and slightly sympathy inducing as Jeff, the possible pedophile who may just be a psychopathic killer.
The first half of the film is very ambiguous, and even when evidence still seems to point to some wrongdoing - the viewer can still find themselves swinging between emotions of what is right and what is wrong. A very plot turning film with a twist at the end.
Thought provoking, and very much a topic of hot debate on the IMDB boards...this film rightly won awards at the Catalonian International Film Festival...and deserves to win a lot more.
Without getting into too much depth - you are never sure who is really the hunter and who is the prey. Further discussion of this subject is encouraged in Babel - where a thread will be raised for those interested.
If you can stomach sitting through this - the film rates a hard 9 out of 10 for myself, and about a 9.5 out of 10 for TB. Our "guest" film reviewers rate this from a 4 (for the two who didn't like) to a 6 - 7 (for the not sure) up to the 9.
A very different film - as usual, well worth the watch!