Hard Candy

HARD CANDY (2005) - Mar. 30, 2007
A really tense psychological thriller about a teenager who meets an older guy (a pedophile) on the internet and proceeds to mess with him in increasingly sinister ways. David Slade's direction and the cinematography sometimes verge on being over-stylized (lots of stark colours and close-ups), but never do. In fact the film is really well directed; the tension starts to build pretty much right from the start, and stays consistent all throughout. I liked the use of sound -- there was almost no score, just a sort of low ambient sort of humming (I have no idea how to describe it) which really helped sustain the level of tension. It also helped that both Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page were really good, as much of the reason the film works as well as it does is their performances. I've heard this being compared to Audition, and I think that's apt, but I liked this even better, because it takes the best part of that film and pretty much makes a whole movie out of it. ***1/2