Hard Candy

Well, this is the banner I finally made for Hard Candy. The name is a little odd. Mainly because it’s a thriller and pretty harsh. It’s even rated R. The person that plays the main character is a physio. At least I think, they keep hinting through the whole thing, so she I’m pretty sure she is.

Here’s the plot taken from Wiki.

The film opens with a flirtatious online conversation between a man and a girl, who agree to meet in person for the first time at the Nighthawks café. The two are revealed as 14-year old Hayley Stark (Ellen Page) and 32-year old photographer Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Wilson). After further flirtation, Hayley suggests they return to Jeff’s house to listen to Jeff’s recording of a Goldfrapp concert. Once there, Hayley makes them both screwdrivers after telling Jeff that she would not drink something that she did not mix herself. As they drink, Hayley convinces Jeff to reveal the feelings between him and his ex-girlfriend, Janelle. Hayley, who appears slightly intoxicated, suggests that Jeff take some photographs of her, similar to the ones of young girls displayed on the walls of his home. As Hayley dances and poses, Jeff begins to feel disoriented and eventually passes out.

Jeff wakes up tied to a wheeled computer chair. Hayley explains that she drugged him and has also been tracking him for months, knowing he is a “pedophile”. Jeff denies it, saying he had innocent intentions. Hayley frantically searches the house, eventually finding a hidden safe in his rock garden. After easily cracking the code (the code being the date when Jeff and Janelle first had sex), Hayley discovers a photo of Donna Mauer, a local girl who had been kidnapped and remains missing. Jeff denies involvement in Mauer’s disappearance, and kicks a distracted Hayley to the floor and wheels himself to his bedroom to get a gun Hayley found earlier. But as he is still tied to the chair, Hayley is easily able to asphyxiate Jeff with plastic wrap into unconsciousness.

Jeff once again wakes, this time tied to a steel table with a bag of ice on his genitals. Hayley once again confronts him about Donna Mauer, informing Jeff that she is going to castrate him. After a long, emotional conversation, she then begins composing an e-mail to Janelle. Despite Jeff’s attempts to dissuade her through threats, negotiation, and pleas for sympathy, Hayley proceeds with the operation. Following its conclusion, she steps out of the room and Jeff breaks free from his bonds, only to discover that Hayley actually faked the castration. Scalpel in hand, he stalks Hayley to the bathroom, where he is blindsided from behind by Hayley, who shocks him unconscious with an electroshock weapon.

Jeff awakens once more, this time standing on a chair, his hands bound, with a noose around his neck. Hayley reveals that she has written a fake suicide note on his behalf and offers Jeff a choice between killing himself before being revealed as a sexual predator, or living with the shame and legal consequences of his crimes. Their conversation is interrupted when a neighbor (Sandra Oh) knocks on the door. Hayley answers and convinces the neighbor that she is Jeff’s niece who is staying for the weekend. When Hayley returns, Jeff breaks free from the noose and pursues her to the roof, where she has created another noose, and holds him off with the gun. Hayley reveals that she has contacted Janelle, who is driving to the house as they speak. She offers him the choice of committing suicide, or she will pull off her own clothes and run into Janelle’s arms, crying and screaming. Jeff finally confesses that he was involved in Donna Mauer’s death, but that he only watched while his accomplice committed the murder; he promises that, if she spares his life, he will disclose the other man’s name and help her find him. Hayley reveals that “Aaron,” the man Jeff claims killed Mauer, told her the same thing before killing himself. Janelle arrives and Hayley urges Jeff to kill himself to avoid prosecution, and to spare the shame of Janelle finding out what he has done. She promises that if he does this, that she will clean up any evidence of his crimes. Jeff, defeated, lets Hayley slide the noose around his neck with no resistance. He takes the deadly step off the roof with Hayley assuring him. Hayley looks over the side of the house, observing Jeff, and simply states: “…or not.” She gathers her belongings and escapes through the woods at the rear of the house. There is a moment when she looks back, then continues on her way home.

It was pretty good. I had mainly wanted to watch it because a friend of mine was talking about Ellen Page and I had asked her who she was and she had talked about Hard Candy and X-Men; those had been the only two movies she’s seen with her in it, and I’ve already seen X-Men, so I looked Hard Candy up and thought it was interesting. So I put it on NetFlix.

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