Hard Candy - movie review

It's hard to know exactly what to say about Hard Candy. The film blends the controversial topics of chatrooms, pedophilia, torture, and vigilantism - not your typical cocktail for entertainment.

After an introduction of chat dialogue the audience catches up with Hayley and Jeff at their first face-to-face meeting. Immediately the film sets up the uneasy story as the teen Hayley (I swear she doesn't look a day over 12) awkwardly flirts with the 30-something photographer Jeff. The actors are also uneasy in these initial scenes and the action tends to drag with a solid tone never being reached. Then again, perhaps this is the point because a decisive tone would require establishing a hero and a villain and Candy's main thrust appears to be keeping this distinction ambiguous.

Evenutally the characters end up in Jeff's apartment and soon after Hayley takes control of the action. Using a variety of interesting film tactics, director David Slade uses his music video roots to infuse energy into picture that could have been lifeless. Instead, the film explodes with jumpcut action and rotates with stark colour fades. The fact that the digital colourist is listed early in the opening credits is evidence of the visual stylings the film offers. As well, as a two-person show, Candy offers excellent performances. Both Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson give chilling portrayals - not an easy feat considering the subject matter and plot points.

Candy is essentially a "Little Red Riding Hood" tale - an alusion that is direct in Hayley's red hoodie. But Hayley requires no woodsman to come and save her. With a pocketful of drugs, some surgery tools and a fazer she sets out to teach the big, bad wolf a lesson. The challenge in the film is how the viewer's sympathy jumps back and forth between the characters. Hayley's innocent victim is also a steely and disturbed young woman. Jeff's inappropriate slimeball is also a heartsick loner. And as the tension escalates and the stakes are rised the audience is thrown into the dilemma of deciding who is right. Who REALLY is the wolf in this tale?

Sadly, the film fails to secure solid red herrings and relinquishes its power by not taking a truly terrifying stance for either character. In the end, the story falls into pleading preachiness rather than sharp statement and the audience is left to wonder whether there was a point to it all. If the film had the balls to commit to total villainy then its moral questions would have bleed purely from the screen. As it is, Candy is an intriguing, but unsatisfying, diversion.