Dir. David Slade, 2005, US, 104 mins
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Holmes
Review By Hemanth Kissoon
“Jeff, playtime is over. Now it’s time to wake up.”
This is one of the most ridiculously tense and uncomfortable films I have ever seen.
Hard Candy begins with a computer monitor showing a chatroom exchange between an apparent paedophile grooming a young girl and arranging for them to meet. At a coffee shop, it is revealed the girl, Hayley (Page), is 14 and Jeff ( Wilson) is at least twice her age. Hayley worryingly goes back to his home, and what starts out as a predator stalking his prey is strikingly reversed as the seemingly helpless turns the tables horrifically.
Those X-Men fans now familiar with the sweetness of Kitty Pride will be shocked by Page’s new role. Her sweetness in that film is certainly not replicated here, though is seemingly present initially. Page turns in a powerhouse performance as a vengeful teen bent on punishing someone she believes is a child-abuser.
The director’s ability to conjure terror and the impressive performances create a palpable sense of dread, unpredictability and claustrophobia. What elevates Hard Candy beyond typical slasher or revenge flicks is that the horror is all psychological and the gore happens off-screen. Coupled with that, the film-makers ask the audience to question whether the punishment meted out is justified, as nothing is ever explicitly proven. The movie is full of determined accusation coupled with hard-fought denials. Consistently, what is presented seems to be the whole picture until more is revealed. It is never clear throughout the majority of Hard Candy whether Jeff has indeed committed the crimes he is charged with by Hayley. The evidence is strong, but is that enough? The writer and director depict the oft-proposed punishment for paedophiles - castration. However, they seem to want to ask the audience whether they could even watch it happen, let alone carry it out themselves.
Nothing is clear-cut until a kind of confession at the end. How much of a monster is Jeff? Is Hayley really 14? Does Jeff deserve his punishment? Should a 14 year old be the perpetrator? What is justice? Who should perform it? Is there something worse than death?
There is a heady mix of torture, psychological abuse, revenge and vigilantism. The film is only let down by contrivances, but if you can buy into or ignore them, then they will not spoil the film - Hayley has a knapsack that has endless amounts of useful items and she has an answer for everything. However, the film is a masterclass in what you can do with few resources but lots of talent.
If there is a moral that can be discerned from the quagmire of comments, it is vocalized by Hayley: “Just because a girl knows how to imitate a woman, it doesn’t mean she’s ready to do what a woman does.”
Lions Gate Home Entertainment have announced the
UK Region 2 DVD release of Hard Candy for 30th October
2006 priced at £17.99.
Features include:
- Anamorphic Widescreen
- English DD5.1 Surround
- English HOH subtitles
- Script and Director’s notebook
- Creating Hard Candy (making of documentary
- Controversial Confection Featurette
- Deleted and extended scenes
- Audio Commentary with Director David Slade and writer
Brian Nelson
- Audio Commentary with Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page
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