Hard Candy (2005)

"Strangers shouldn't talk to little girls."

Directed by David Slade
Produced by Rosanne Korenberg, Paul Allen
Written by Brian Nelson
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Odessa Rae
Music by Molly Nyman, Harry Escott
Cinematography: Jo Willems

Edited by Art Jones
Production company: Vulcan Productions
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release date: 12 May 2006 (Spain)
Running time: 104 minutes
Country: United States
Budget: $950.000
Box office: $7.022.209

"Hard Candy" is a crime thriller drama film directed by David Slade and written by Brian Nelson. The story is about a teenage girl Haley who has a flirtatious online chat with a man whose real name is Jeff. After a time they decide to meet. It turned out that they have much in common and therefore Jeff asks her to go to him. He says he's a photographer who would like to take her pictures. Surprisingly, Haley agrees with this offer.

Cast

• Patrick Wilson as Jeff Kohlver
• Ellen Page as Hayley Stark
• Sandra Oh as Judy Tokuda
• Odessa Rae (credited as Jennifer Holmes) as Janelle Rogers
• Erin Kraft as Donna Mauer in photos
• Gabe Kerr as Nighthawks Clerk
• Cori Bright as girl in Nighthawks

The director of the film is David Slade. His other works include the films "30 Days of Night" and "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse". As for "Hard Candy", it turned pretty unusual. There were almost only two people in the picture but it didn't make a tension even a little less. And all emotions and movements were captured the way we had to see them. The plot may seem quite strange and slow moving, and the ending stays partly told. However, it's an independent movie so it's may be so.

As I said earlier, there were only two people in the picture. Patrick Wilson performed a role of Jeff, a paedophile, child rapist and murderer. The actor had showed the part the way that the viewers didn't see who was he in fact. To my mind, Patrick Wilson coped with his role: all his words sounded so natural and all his expressions seemed so believable. Ellen Page has become popular thanks to "Juno". Her Haley paid attention to the actress and it wasn't fortuitous. A teenage girl that decided to render justice by herself. Yes, it's possible that she's a little insane. But it made the character only more difficult. Therefore Ellen deserved to succeed thanks to her incredible performance.

Advantages

• Patrick Wilson as Jeff Kohlver
• Ellen Page as Hayley Stark

Disadvantages

• The humiliation of people

"Strangenesses"

• And who is the true evil?

Clue Moments

• The roof

"Hard Candy" brought up serious topics. The main is sexual abuse, or molestation. It's forcing undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester. The term also covers any behaviour by any adult towards a child to stimulate either the adult or child sexually. When the victim is younger than the age of consent, it is referred to as child sexual abuse. There are no words to describe all these things. Adjectives like "awful", "terrible" or "detestable" can't give the general purport of such crime. And the most frightening thing is that no one has security against it.

Soundtracks

1. LFO - Freak
2. Blonde Redhead - Elephant Woman

Quotations

* * * 

Jeff Kohlver: Is this some kind of teenage joke?
Hayley Stark: Teenage? Yeah. Joke? No.

* * * 

Hayley Stark: Just because a girl knows how to imitate a woman, does NOT mean she's ready to do what a woman does.

* * * 

Hayley Stark: Torture? Is this torture to you? Because wow, I guess you've never read anything about Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, because this... this is nothing.

* * * 

Hayley Stark: Well, 4 out of 5 doctors agree that I am actually insane.

* * * 

Jeff Kohlver: Those letters are mine.
Hayley Stark: Nothing's yours when you invite a teenager into your home.

* * * 

Hayley Stark: You really just don't look like kind of guy who needs to meet girls over the Internet.
Jeff Kohlver: Well, I think it's better to meet people online first, sometimes. You get to know what they're like inside. When you work as a photographer you find out real quick peoples faces lie.
Hayley Stark: Does my face lie?

* * * 

Jeff Kohlver: Well you look older than you are and you certainly act older than you are.

* * *
You may see the trailer here.

Plot: 7/10

Entertainment: 5/10

Acting: 5/10

Originality: 7/10

Music and Sound: 5/10

6/10