Hard Candy (film)
Hard Candy | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | David Slade |
Written by | Brian Nelson |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Jo Willems |
Edited by | Art Jones |
Music by | |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release dates |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $950,000[1] |
Box office | $8.3 million[2] |
Hard Candy is a 2005 American
Hard Candy premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and was screened at the Florida Film Festival in April 2006. It had a limited release in two theaters in the United States. The film made over $8 million at the box office, including $1 million domestically, on a budget of under $1 million.
Hard Candy won three awards at the 2005 Sitges Film Festival, four awards at the Málaga Film Festival, and was also awarded Overlooked Film of the Year at the 2006 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. Page won Best Actress at the 2006 Austin Film Critics Association Awards.
Plot
14-year-old Hayley Stark and 32-year-old photographer Jeff Kohlver engage in a sexually charged, flirtatious online chat. They then meet at a coffeehouse before going to Jeff's home. When they arrive, Jeff makes them drinks, but Hayley refuses by saying she was taught never to take a drink she has not mixed herself. Hayley goes to the kitchen and makes them both screwdrivers. As Jeff shows her around his house, she notes the photographs hung on his walls, all of which seem to be of underage half-clothed girls. Hayley asks Jeff to photograph her. He gets out his camera and Hayley begins to pose, but before Jeff can take any photos he loses consciousness.
When Jeff wakes, he is bound to a desk chair. Hayley explains she has been tracking and baiting him through online chats and drugged him because she believes he is a sexual predator and murderer. Jeff denies these allegations, claiming he had innocent intentions. Hayley searches Jeff's house and finds a gun and a safe. In the safe, Hayley finds pictures, including a photo of Donna Mauer, a local girl who has been kidnapped and remains missing. Jeff continues to deny the accusations and kicks Hayley to the ground, temporarily knocking her out. He rolls the chair into his bedroom and manages to retrieve his gun, which Hayley left out on his bed. He returns to the living room to see that Hayley is no longer there; she comes up from behind him and wraps his face in plastic wrap, choking him unconscious.
When Jeff wakes, he finds himself bound to a steel table with a bag of ice on his genitals, making them numb. Hayley tells him that she intends to castrate him. Jeff attempts to dissuade her, including by telling her he was abused as a child in a play for sympathy, but fails. Hayley consults a medical book to guide her through the procedure, describing it to Jeff as she performs the operation. Once it is finished, Hayley puts down the scalpel and puts something appearing to be testicles in the kitchen sink garbage disposal. She turns it on and walks away, saying she needs a shower.
Jeff frees himself, only to realize that the "surgery" was a trick and he is unharmed. He picks up the scalpel and storms into the bathroom, where the shower is running. He slashes at the shower curtain, but finds the shower empty. Hayley attacks him from behind, and as they struggle, Hayley incapacitates him with a stun gun.
Hayley calls Jeff's ex-girlfriend Janelle and, posing as a police officer, asks her to come immediately to Jeff's house. Jeff regains consciousness to find that Hayley has bound his wrists and hoisted him to stand on a chair in his kitchen with a noose around his neck. Hayley makes Jeff an offer: if he commits suicide, she promises to erase the evidence of his crimes, but if he refuses, she will expose his secrets. The conversation is interrupted when a neighbor knocks on the front door, selling Girl Scout Cookies. When Hayley returns, Jeff breaks from his bindings and pursues her to the roof of his house. Hayley has brought her rope from the kitchen and fashioned it into a noose secured to the chimney. Hayley keeps Jeff at bay with his gun.
Jeff confesses that he watched while another man raped and murdered Mauer. Jeff promises Hayley that, if she spares his life, he will tell her the other man's name so she can exact her revenge. Hayley reveals that she already knows his name, Aaron, and that Aaron said Jeff did it before he killed himself. Janelle arrives, and Hayley once again urges Jeff to hang himself, promising that she will destroy the evidence. Defeated, Jeff lets Hayley slide the noose around his neck, and steps off the roof. After he falls, Hayley says, "Or not," then gathers her belongings and walks away through the woods.
Cast
- Patrick Wilson as Jeff Kohlver
- Ellen Page[a]as Hayley Stark
- Sandra Oh as Judy Tokuda
- Jennifer Holmes as Janelle Rogers
- Gilbert John as Nighthawks Clerk
Production
The idea for Hard Candy came from a news story producer David W. Higgins saw on
Very little
Jean-Clement Soret was the
Nelson's early working titles of the script were Vendetta and Snip Snip. When Higgins asked for a title with a "sugar and spice combination and a mixture of harsh roughness, innocence, and vulnerability", Nelson proposed the title Hard Candy.[5]
Elliot Page, in his memoir Pageboy, revealed that a member of the production gave him a ride home after the wrap party, and then sexually assaulted him.[6]
Reception
Box office
The film premiered at the 2005
Hard Candy opened in two theaters in
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 147 critic reviews are positive, and the average rating is 6.4/10. The critics consensus reads: "Disturbing, controversial, but entirely engrossing, Hard Candy is well written with strong lead performances, especially that of newcomer Elliot Page. A movie that stays with the viewer long after leaving the theater."[9] According to Metacritic, which sampled 30 reviews and calculated a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews".[10]
Roger Ebert rated the film 3.5/4 stars, writing "There is undeniable fascination in the situation as it unfolds... Seen as a film, seen as acting and direction, seen as just exactly how it unfolds on the screen, Hard Candy is impressive and effective."[11] Steve Persall wrote in the Tampa Bay Times that he saw the movie in a crowded bar, yet "until the shocking end, there's nothing less than rapt attention to this sordid thriller about an online predator (Wilson) and his not-so-innocent prey [Elliot Page]. On a party night in New Orleans? That's how creepy-good this movie is."[12] Steve Schneider, writing in the Orlando Weekly, praised the film's "grabber of a sicko setup... It's a memorably tense pas de deux, and if the movie doesn't pay off on it properly, fault a script that ventures further and further into psychological thriller claptrap, leaving the two stars to rely on their hefty talents to keep it at all believable."[7]
Caroline Westbrook at
Page's performance received critical acclaim; Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times Magazine said "a star was born, but almost no one noticed", describing Hard Candy as Page's initial artistic breakthrough performance, and his role in the 2007 film Juno as his mainstream popularity breakthrough performance.[15] Claudia Puig from USA Today praised Page for "remain[ing] consistently convincing" to his role which is both "powerful and chilling ... [he] manages to be both cruelly callous and likable, and [his] is one of the most complex, disturbing and haunting performances of the year."[16]
Accolades
The film won three awards at the 2005
Year | Event | Award | Nominee | Result |
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2006 | Austin Film Critics Association Awards
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Best Actress | Elliot Page[a] | Won |
2006 | British Independent Film Awards | Best Foreign Independent Film | Hard Candy | Nominated |
2007 | Empire Awards | Best Female Newcomer | Elliot Page[a] | Nominated |
2006 | Golden Trailer Awards | Best Thriller | Hard Candy trailer | Nominated |
Best Titles in a Trailer | Nominated | |||
2006 | Málaga Film Festival | Best Film | Hard Candy | Won |
Best Director | David Slade | Won | ||
Best Actress | Elliot Page[a] | Won | ||
Best Cinematography | Jo Willems | Won | ||
2006 | Online Film Critics Society Awards
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Best Breakthrough Performance | Elliot Page[a] | Nominated |
2006 | Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Overlooked Film of the Year | Hard Candy | Won |
2005 | Sitges Film Festival | Best Film | David Slade | Won |
Best Feature Film (Audience Award) | Won | |||
Best Screenplay | Brian Nelson | Won |
Home media
The American
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f g David Slade (director) (2006). "Making Hard Candy," DVD featurette (DVD). Lions Gate. B000GI3KGC.
- ^ a b "Hard Candy". The Numbers. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
- ^ Buchanan, Jason. "Hard Candy". AllMovie. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
- ^ Original Japanese text:赤ずきんが仕掛けるオオカミへのゲーム
"ハード キャンディ Hard candy". cinemarise.com. Retrieved December 8, 2014. - ^ a b David Slade (director) (2006). DVD audio commentary with director David Slate and writer Brian Nelson (DVD). Lions Gate. B000GI3KGC.
- ISBN 9781250878359.
- ^ a b Schneider, Steve (March 30, 2006). "CLOSING FRAMES – What to watch for in the final weekend of the Florida Film Festival". Orlando Weekly. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "Hard Candy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
- ^ "Hard Candy". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ "Hard Candy". Metacritic. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (April 27, 2006). "Hard Candy Movie Review & Film Summary (2006)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
- ^ Persall, Steve (July 1, 2013). "As he turns 40, a look at Patrick Wilson's best performances". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (26 October 1985). "Hard Candy". Chicago Reader. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (April 14, 2006). "In 'Hard Candy,' an Internet Lolita Is Not as Innocent as She Looks". The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Hirschberg, Lynn (February 10, 2008). "Breaking Through". The New York Times Magazine. p. 51(L). Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Puig, Claudia (December 22, 2006). "Ellen: Manipulates Hard Candy to great effect". USA Today. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
- ^ Green, Jennifer (October 17, 2005). "Hard Candy sweeps prizes at Sitges". Screen Daily. Screen International. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ^ "Hard Candy". Vulcan Productions. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Maxwell, Erin (December 21, 2006). "Phoenix critics stand behind 'United'". Variety. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "Cinema's Labyrint - The year in film, 2006". The Austin Chronicle. January 5, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "2006 Awards (10th Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. 3 January 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "Best Female Newcomer". Empire. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "Nominations 2006". British Independent Film Awards. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "7th Annual Golden Trailer Award Winner and Nominees". Golden Trailer Awards. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Rizzo III, Francis (September 17, 2006). "Hard Candy". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "Hard Candy Blu-ray". CD Universe. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Peck, Aaron (August 30, 2010). "Hard Candy". High-Def Digest. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ Kauffman, Jeffrey (August 30, 2010). "Hard Candy Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
External links
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