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I recently watched the movie, Hard Candy. I decided to do a review of this on my own personal blog and to also do a review here at BlogHer.
I really don't know exactly how I feel about this movie. It was a last minute grab out of the $5 bin at Wal-Mart.
I remember reading in my crackazines (US, People, Entertainment Weekly, etc...) about this movie and being intrigued with the premise.
I popped it in Sunday night after light of my life went to sleep. I had the living room to myself and thought I'd pop it in to see what it was all about.
Just FYI, it's a rated R movie, so no kiddos need to be awake to accidentally catch any of this.
It stars Ellen Page of Juno fame and Patrick Wilson of Little Children fame. Sandra Oh makes an appearance but for you Grey's Anatomy fans, if you're watching this just because she's in it, don't bother. Her appearance in this movie equal a whopping total of about 4 minutes.
If you like happy endings and all questions answered in your movies, this is not a movie for you. This is an independent film and you can tell.
I don't mean that in a negative way. It's just a powerful and unique film.
It starts off with Ellen Page's character, Hayley, and Patrick Wilson's character, Jeff, chatting on IM. It's pretty obvious that the conversation is between a teenage girl and an older male. Not to give too much away...they agree to meet.
The next scene sets it up to them meeting in a cafe. They start to talk and you can sense his attraction to her but you can also tell that he's not wanting to make it too obvious since he's in his thirties and she's, well, not.
She finagles an invite to his apartment to listen to a download of a song from a concert and he (instead of backing off) agrees.
They head over to his apartment and things start taking that uncomfortable turn that all parents dread in this day and age. It appears that Hayley initiates the sequence of events by pouring both of them some screwdrivers and asking Jeff to take pics of her (he's a photographer). She pops in a c.d. and takes off her shirt to reveal a sports bra and starts to dance on the sofa while Jeff starts to take pictures. A few minutes into the session, Jeff faints.
When he awakens, he finds himself tied to a chair with Hayley watching him.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is where the movie takes a hard left and never lets up.
Hayley is convinced Jeff is a pedophile and that he's had something to do with the disappearance of a local girl.
Now, normally, in movies and sometimes in real life, there's an obvious monster and an obvious hero.
But not in this one.
As much as you want to see Hayley as some vigilante who's out to rid the world of a pedophile, she's goes way beyond vigilantism and into torture.
And Jeff, well, as despicable as he seems, there's no clear cut answer to whether he had something to do with the disappearance of the local girl or even if he's a pedophile. Sure, he seems a little too interested in Hayley and the teenage girls who's modeled for him, but we never really get a definitive answer to this question. There are scenes set up to make you believe that he has something to hide (a secret safe hidden in a piece of art that contains photos including one of the missing girl) but since we never see any of the photos except for the one of the missing girl fully clothed, there is no scene that says "Jeff Kohlver is a pedophile and here are the pictures to prove it".
I'm not gonna give any more away because, really, you need to watch the movie to really grasp the pure terror of the psychological and physical torture Hayley puts to Jeff.
Neither character is likable in the slightest. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the most likable character in this whole movie is the one played by Sandra Oh as a nosy neighbor.
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