Hard Candy (2005)

Hard Candy: Directed by David Slade. With Patrick Wilson, Elliot Page, Sandra Oh, Odessa Rae. Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff’s a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff’s place. Jeff thinks it’s his lucky night. He’s in for a surprise.

“Iu0026#39;ll admit, I was completely cowardly… I read as many user reviews about this film as possible, before offering a critique. Why? Because when attempting assessment of controversial material, its a good idea to find the u0026quot;middle groundu0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs one would suspect, reviewers either loved or hated this movie. Since weu0026#39;re on a movie review site, I found myself thinking: Is this an eerie, atmospheric shocker like Polanskiu0026#39;s work? No… Hard Candy is shocking in places, but lacks atmosphere and an eerie edge due to its setting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDo we have a tense and driven psychological thriller in the style of Hitchcock? Not really… Although thereu0026#39;s moments when Hard Candy is nearly as good, this movie lacks the subtle symbolism and driven power of Hitchcock at his best.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo, what are we left with? Well… A noble but flawed project, I think. Noble because mainstream movies so very rarely attempt to grapple with difficult issues like internet pedophilia and (female) sadism. Flawed because of the writing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe central ethos of Hard Candy asks us to accept that torture and mental cruelty is an acceptable outcome, when victims u0026quot;turnu0026quot; and become the attackers-that-were-attacked. The film-makers are over-manipulative here, because they know many of us wish to see dangerous sexual criminals roasted over a hot fire – but this is a medieval idea – and does not prevent crime…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFaulty logic is at work when victim becomes attacker (albeit in a different way). Itu0026#39;s a kind of vigilante-style response, much loved by film-makers (because of itu0026#39;s simple, direct message). Yet, the real issues as to why crime occurs are overlooked. In fact, the real issues are side-stepped completely in Hard Candy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhy Hayley is so driven, organized and determined to reek vengeance on this hapless photographer isnu0026#39;t clear to me – I think the inference is that she knew (or was) one of Jeffu0026#39;s victims. We have to wait to the end of the movie for this vital information – The waitu0026#39;s a long one and it seemed fudged. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe charactersu0026#39; back stories just arenu0026#39;t well-developed enough for us, the audience, to make clear judgments about whom we should be supporting. Stephen Kingu0026#39;s characters, for example, are much more rounded and believable.”