'Hard Candy' review by Jake Boyle
Recently I had a discussion where I was attempting to discern what the most gruellingly uncomfortable scene in cinema was. The self-surgical procedure in Prometheus, the tree-molestation in Evil Dead and the climactic whipping scene in 12 Years A Slave were some of the honourable mentions, but Hard Candy blows them all out of the water several times over. The meeting between a sexual predator and a 14 year-old girl goes wrong in so many ways, just not quite the ones you'd imagine.
Hard Candy is a fantastically stark film, the majority of its runtime consisting of two actors within one house utilising slow-moving shots (which at time creates nerve-racking tension when the camera's path takes it behind furniture, obscuring any view of unfolding events), and almost no music throughout. The acting and events of the story both start out at an equally restrained pace - Patrick Wilson exhibiting a well-chosen calm demeanour (the situation is creepy enough as it is - any enhancement of that would probably just ham the whole thing up) and Ellen Page's character pretending to be the young girl who thinks she's all grown-up. As the film progresses, everybody and everything involved becomes violent, panicked and desperate, but this evolution is done gently enough that it remains oh so dark and serious. Wilson is excellent, playing confidently at the high end of every scale of emotion and never once coming off as anything less than spectacular. And there really is no other actress like Ellen Page, even at such an early juncture in her career. She goes for it both barrels and succeeds entirely, evoking sympathy despite the sheer cold-blooded terror she induces.
At this point, when things start to get twisted, the claustrophobic setting and chilling silence really highlight the total horror and grimness of the situation. The wince-inducing scenes I made vague reference to in the introduction come in many shapes and sizes - the opening sequence when they're flirting online is creepy enough to provoke a physical reaction, equally so the tension that abounds when they end up at the guy's home for a 'photoshoot', and I won't divulge much about what happens later but it really puts the vile into violent. The utter hatred, anger and pain that runs through the latter stages of the film (especially the dialogue) is electrifying and unavoidable. That's an area where the film really excels: it's brazenness. The topics and themes at the centre of the film are delicate matters, but there's no pussy-footing around them to be found, and the uncomfortableness and awfulness of it all is confronted head-on to achieve maximum dramatic effect.
I think things are getting a mite repetitive here on Captain Raptor. Now the last three films I've reviewed have all been dark, twisted and superlative dramas that excel both in regards to technical aspects and performance. I promise I'll try and watch something different next week. In the mean time, please, go and get a copy of Hard Candy. It's a distinctively shocking film that's both smartly shot and smartly written, The two performances are absolute masterpieces and the nightmarish atmosphere of the experience is a how-to guide of creating tense excitement. An experience that's equal parts as enthralling as it is disturbing.
Recently I had a discussion where I was attempting to discern what the most gruellingly uncomfortable scene in cinema was. The self-surgical procedure in Prometheus, the tree-molestation in Evil Dead and the climactic whipping scene in 12 Years A Slave were some of the honourable mentions, but Hard Candy blows them all out of the water several times over. The meeting between a sexual predator and a 14 year-old girl goes wrong in so many ways, just not quite the ones you'd imagine.
Hard Candy is a fantastically stark film, the majority of its runtime consisting of two actors within one house utilising slow-moving shots (which at time creates nerve-racking tension when the camera's path takes it behind furniture, obscuring any view of unfolding events), and almost no music throughout. The acting and events of the story both start out at an equally restrained pace - Patrick Wilson exhibiting a well-chosen calm demeanour (the situation is creepy enough as it is - any enhancement of that would probably just ham the whole thing up) and Ellen Page's character pretending to be the young girl who thinks she's all grown-up. As the film progresses, everybody and everything involved becomes violent, panicked and desperate, but this evolution is done gently enough that it remains oh so dark and serious. Wilson is excellent, playing confidently at the high end of every scale of emotion and never once coming off as anything less than spectacular. And there really is no other actress like Ellen Page, even at such an early juncture in her career. She goes for it both barrels and succeeds entirely, evoking sympathy despite the sheer cold-blooded terror she induces.
At this point, when things start to get twisted, the claustrophobic setting and chilling silence really highlight the total horror and grimness of the situation. The wince-inducing scenes I made vague reference to in the introduction come in many shapes and sizes - the opening sequence when they're flirting online is creepy enough to provoke a physical reaction, equally so the tension that abounds when they end up at the guy's home for a 'photoshoot', and I won't divulge much about what happens later but it really puts the vile into violent. The utter hatred, anger and pain that runs through the latter stages of the film (especially the dialogue) is electrifying and unavoidable. That's an area where the film really excels: it's brazenness. The topics and themes at the centre of the film are delicate matters, but there's no pussy-footing around them to be found, and the uncomfortableness and awfulness of it all is confronted head-on to achieve maximum dramatic effect.
I think things are getting a mite repetitive here on Captain Raptor. Now the last three films I've reviewed have all been dark, twisted and superlative dramas that excel both in regards to technical aspects and performance. I promise I'll try and watch something different next week. In the mean time, please, go and get a copy of Hard Candy. It's a distinctively shocking film that's both smartly shot and smartly written, The two performances are absolute masterpieces and the nightmarish atmosphere of the experience is a how-to guide of creating tense excitement. An experience that's equal parts as enthralling as it is disturbing.
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