Welcome to the Tuesday Night is Film Night review for;
Hard Candy
Well, what can one say........
We usually watch the fluffy, funny, rom-com's and chick flicks type films. After all it is a family film night.
Hard Candy was never going to be fluffy.
Hard Candy is; a hard hitting, suspenseful thriller. It's gripping, you can't tear yourself from it. It isn't however, edge of the seat stuff, it's behind the sofa and peek with one eye stuff!
And how do they achieve this suspense? With some superb acting. Some great camera work, but not much in the way of incidental music to set the mood. The intensity of the drama comes from the screen in the form of dialogue and visual cues. Incredible, powerful stuff.
As always, we will thinly describe the plot, not to give too much away.
Ellen Page plays Hayley Stark, a troubled, but mature 14 year old, who bumps into a thirty-two year old photographer; Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Wilson), in an internet chat room. They get talking, with Jeff leading Hayley on somewhat. After several weeks of chatting, they decide to meet up in a local coffee shop. After some flirting from Hayley, they continue their meeting at Jeff's house.
This is where the trouble starts.........
What follows is a fairly harrowing portrayal of torture with physical and mental abuse, but with a twist.
What makes this film so intriguing, is that for the main, the action takes place in one location, with just two actors on screen. Ellen Page is phenomenal in her portrayal of Hayley Stark, who is quite clearly a psychotic teenager, intent of the mental torture of the not so innocent Jeff. For his part, Patrick Wilson puts in a great performance, also.
Very gripping. Very tense. Very good.
I'm sleeping with one eye open tonight!
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