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Hard Candy
R1 - America - Lionsgate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (27th September 2006). |
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The Film
 As I sat down to watch "Hard Candy" I knew ahead of time what I was getting myself into, at least partly from the film's trailer. But nothing could prepare me what I sat through. Allow me to set the scene: the film is about a male thirty-something professional photographer, Jeff (Patrick Wilson) who likes to meet young girls over the Internet, and by young I specifically mean a 14-year-old girl, Hayley (Ellen Page). Man meets girl, man playfully tries to seduce girl but then the tables turn. Girl knocks man out, ties him up and begins a manipulative game of verbal cat and mouse that inevitably ends in torture. Welcome to "Hard Candy". You could almost feel the tension during the film's first 15-20 minutes - director David Slade presses the right buttons to create a mood that is not only awkward but wholly disturbing, playing these characters off each other like a wolf eyeing up its prey (his use of Little Red Riding Hood imagery is unmistakable) and provides some of the films most uncomfortable moments - well that is until young Hayley does what she does to force a confession of his paedophilia. Then it gets even more disturbing and somewhat unbearable. Before I get into the meat of the film, let's begin with Brian Nelson's well-paced and executed screenplay. Nelson does a fine job of introducing us to these two characters and providing us with just enough information to pass judgment onto them. The photographer, Jeff, is a straight-laced well mannered charmer. He doesn't encompass the stereotypical Hollywood image of what a paedophile is, quite the opposite in fact. It's as if the crew from "Queer Eye" (2003-Present) came in and gave the Hollywood paedophile a new look to put off any trace of the fact that this man is a sexual predator. The young girl on the other hand is sweet, naive and epitomises the innocent girl next door - this is of course what we are led to believe anyway. For those that have not seen the film's trailer what comes next would be a bit of a surprise - but for those that have not seen the trailer expect a turn of events that will leave you speechless. Nelson's script moves along a razor's edge, and the dialogue is one of the true strengths. Hayley successfully plays on Jeff's vulnerabilities and weaknesses and Jeff, pleading his case makes for interesting viewing. We soon begin to realise the extent to Hayley's plot and that culminates in... SPOILER WARNING - Highlight to read:...what is quite possibly one of the most unbearable scenes committed to film, achieved with great writing, performance and showing no direct gore - that scene is a homemade castration, complete with icepack, razor and surgical tools. I don't think I'd ever watched a film where you could literally cut the tension among it's viewers, I found myself constantly shifting in my seat and a quick survey of the people I was watching it with showed that I was not the only one.END OF SPOILERS. As mentioned before, this scene is sold with the terrific performances from the film's two leads, so much so that you begin to have pity for Jeff and start to feel a little disgusted by Hayley. Here lies the genius of the writing, it challenges the audience, who do you sympathies with? Does someone like Jeff deserve the punishment he's getting? Nelson draws a blurry line much the same say Tim Robbins did in "Dead Man Walking" (1995). The script is brilliantly realised by director David Slade whose slick visuals coat the film with an otherwise uneasy feel, and it's also realized by casting Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson. Page has an uncanny ability to go from sweet and innocent to intensely disturbing, she delivers a solid performance and displays an impressive gamut of emotion. Despite her rather obvious talent, her performance was very mature for the character and in some ways negatively affected the film and its overall impact. I was also constantly doubting how someone her age (14) could possibly do the physical things she did, some of which are entirely ludicrous, such as dragging an unconscious grown man and tying him up with an intricate rope-noose system hanging from the ceiling - this was given slight explanation by alerting us to the fact she was 'an honour student' and 'could do anything if she put her mind to it.' But in all seriousness, all the mind power one can muster still doesn't explain how a 14-year-old girl with a slender physique managed to hoist an unconscious adult male more than 2½ times her weight up with a noose around his neck. On the other end of the spectrum we have Patrick Wilson, who aside from looking like Will Arnett (who plays Gob on "Arrested Development" (2003-2006) -to be honest I half expected him to shoot pennies from his cuff to the tune of "The Final Countdown" by Europe) managed to do something rather astonishing with his character; he managed to make me feel sorry for him. This is mainly due to the viciousness that was directed towards him more than anything else, but his audacious performance also aided in that somewhat. If anything you could say about "Hard Candy" it's that the casting is perfect and the performances are nothing short of spectacular. Slade has done some gruelling work with these actors and it certainly pays off, however, I find it difficult to recommend it, purely for its sheer intensity. If you're at all curious then by all means go check it out.
Video
The film is presented in the film's original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, the resulting image is strikingly bold. The image is sharp and colors are rendered beautifully and matches the director's vision accurately. Blacks are deep and true, shadow detail remains consistent throughout the film. Overall I was incredibly pleased with this stunning transfer.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, for the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its 5.1 track and just as the image was beautiful the sound was impressive and totally immersive. The depth exhibited in this track is near reference quality, dialogue is clean and distortion free, music and ambient noise are well mixed throughout the sound space and makes for a terrific sound experience. Optional subtitles are also included in English and Spanish.
Extras
First up is the feature-length audio commentary with director David Slade and writer Brian Nelson. This track is basically screen-specific as they comment on various sequences and reveal how they achieved them on such a small budget and a short shooting schedule. The director comments on the shot selection, blocking and performances as well as how the script evolved into what was eventually committed to the screen. Nelson talks about character development and the intricacies of scriptwriting. The participants also spend a lot of time revealing what they didn't have time to do, considering they only had 18 days to shoot the entire film. And the director also comments on color palette, hints in the performances, and also little background things such as the photographs and set dressing elements that make a shot work. Overall this is a fast-paced excellent track that provides the viewer with a wealth of information and comes as a highly recommended listen. The second audio commentary is with actors Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page. This track is just as good as the previous, I originally thought going into this track that there would be a lot of quiet gaps and that the only things they would talk about was acting but instead I was surprised that they commented on a rather broad range of topics from the opening title sequence to locations used and costumes as well as some of the more challenging scenes that were filmed and how they approached them. I did find some repetition in this track but overall it was incredibly interesting to listen to. Next up is the "Creating Hard Candy" Making of documentary which is presented in 7 parts and can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option. The segments include: - "Introduction" which runs for 1 minute 41 seconds and is literally a intro sequence. - "An Independent Idea" which runs for 9 minutes 20 seconds, this clip focuses on how the idea for the film came about, and how the producer went about finding the ideal screenwriter for the project. The writer lets us in on what attracted him to the project and the approach he took from the treatment to the first draft until it's final shooting script. He comments on the importance of finding a 'voice' for the character. Additionally we are given a look at how the script was shopped around the major and minor studios around Hollywood as well as the attachment of the film's director. - "Casting" runs for 8 minutes 59 seconds, This clip looks at the importance of getting the two leads right. The producers audition over 300 girls until they came across Ellen Page, as she exhibited the right mix of intelligence, strength and rage that was required for the role, plus she looked innocent. Patrick Wilson's casting wasn't as difficult but they were looking for an actor that can add a human element to the character so that he doesn't seem like a total monster and that's what Wilson brought to the role. We also get a brief look at the casting of Sandra Oh. - "A director's Visual Style" runs for 7 minutes 49 seconds, the long casting process allowed for the director to prepare for the film and every aspect of this film was designed, from the intricate storyboarding, the framing and choice of film stock, to color and camera movement. This clips looks at the development of the style. - "Production" runs for 4 minutes 25 seconds, this looks at the hectic 18 day shoot and what they did to make it run fast and smooth such as shoot mostly in continuity and with a small loyal crew. - "Post Production" runs for 7 minutes 47 seconds, this takes a look at the importance of editing, the sound track and score, or in this case the lack thereof that gave this film a whole new feel and added to the tension and mood that the director was trying to achieve. - "Marketing & Release" runs for 11 minutes 41 seconds, this looks at the film's Sundance reaction and subsequent sale to Lionsgate, the creation of the trailer, the poster and the film's Hollywood premiere. Next is the "Controversial Confection" mini featurette which runs for 9 minutes 20 seconds. This takes a look at the controversial elements of the film, and how as an independent film you need something to stand out from the hundreds of other independent films released each year. 6 deleted and extended scenes follow, these can be viewed with a 'play all' function r can be viewed individually. The scenes included are: - "First e-mail" that runs for 1 minute 42 seconds, this is an extended online chat sequence as seen at the start of the film. - "Hayley Reads Janelle's Letter" which runs for 1 minute 58 seconds, this is the complete scene of Hayley reading the letter with the aim to mock Jeff. - "Hayley Calls Home" runs for 1 minute 47 seconds, Hayley rings her mother letting her know that she'll be staying over at a friend's house. - "Jeff Tied To The Table, Hayley Questions Him About Donna Mauer" runs for 2 minutes 24 seconds, Hayley gets more information from Jeff about the missing girl. - "Numb Nuts" runs for 1 minute 22 seconds, Hayley admits to having looked at the CD with pictures of girls that was kept in Jeff's safe, she checks up on his testicles to make sure they are numb. - "Shaving" runs for 1 minutes 34 seconds, Hayley prepares Jeff for the homemade surgery. Also included on this disc is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 23 seconds. A collection of bonus trailers is also included that play before the menu and can be skipped, these previews are for: - "See No Evil" which runs for 39 seconds. - "An American Haunting" which runs for 2 minutes 22 seconds. - "Stephen King's Desperation" which runs for 1 minute 27 seconds. - "Are You Scared" which runs for 1 minute 24 seconds. Rounding out the extras are some DVD-ROM goodies that includes an in-depth production notebook which includes the entire script with director's notes and sketches. For a single disc release you couldn't ask for a better release, the extras are well produced and cover a lot of ground. Nice work Lionsgate for creating a worthy DVD release for this film.
Overall
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