FILM: Hard Candy

Fourteen-year-old Hayley (Ellen Page) meets up with 32-year-old fashion photographer Jeff (Patrick Wilson) after chatting to him for a couple of weeks on the internet. When they wind up back at his place things take a nasty turn...


Early on in this film you're likely to sit there feeling all smug, safe in the knowledge that you can see exactly what is coming. A slightly over-long glimpse at the "Wanted" poster in the coffee shop only adds to that feeling. When Jeff starts a charm offensive that makes Wolf Creek's Mad Mick Taylor look like a social retard you start to sink your toes into the reassuring fur rug under your feet.

It's right about then the script pulls that rug from under you and sends you sprawling on your arse. Suddenly things aren't so clear cut and the question of who's grooming who hangs in the air. What follows is an excruciatingly tense psychological thriller that swings between the two main characters. The two-handed performance is helped by a wonderful script that oozes black humour.

For her part, Hayley proves to be one of the strongest female characters ever seen on screen, despite only being 14. However, although she is initially painted as the goodie and Jeff is dubbed the baddie, their journey takes a difficult course that questions if the lines aren't more blurred than that. There's certainly a point where you wonder how far she is willing to go and what your reaction will be if she crosses that line.

And when we reach the edge of that line there are some extremely uncomfortable scenes in Hard Candy. These are made all the more chilling by Hayley's calm nature as she carries out her actions. Some especially foul sound effects also help push the feeling of unease higher. One scene in particular (you'll know exactly which one when you reach it!) had some people getting up and leaving the screening I was in. I've seen people leave a bad movie before - Gus Van Sant's Last Days managed to empty half a small cinema before it was even 40 minutes in - but I've never seen people walk out of a film like this.

You should come out of Hard Candy asking yourself all kinds of questions: from whether society and the media's use of teen sexuality goes too far, to how you would punish pedophiles and murderers. I guarantee you won't come out of it thinking this was just another human drama.

Overall, this is almost too harsh to sit through in places, but wonderful performances by the two leads and an un-Hollywood attitude to stick to its guns and not sell out make this a powerful film.

Hard Candy is released in cinemas in April 2006 in the US and in June 2006 in the UK