Hard Candy

I think it's come up a few times before; here, for example.

I thought it was very well acted, obviously Ellen Page is terrific but Patrick Wilson is very good at making an unpleasant character believable. It's also very stylishly directed.

Morally I'm not sure it's a good film. By turning the punishment of a paedophile into a form of psychological torture game it risks trivialising the crimes he's committed. The audience sympathises with Hayley because she's such a smart character but in doing so, do we lose sight of what crimes Jeff could have committed?
 
I myself couldn't stand it, found it really boring, and turned off half way through.

I might've liked it more if I'd watched it to the end, but never going to, so will never know.
 
Very well acted film, really well written too.

I watched it more because nothing else was on, hadn't even heard of it, but was hooked from early on. It's not very often these days i make it half way through a film, nevermind all the way through, so i was very impressed with this film.
 
It's been doing my head in since I watched it last week, am I wrong to feel sympathy for the kiddy fiddler? Should the girl be arrested or applauded? Is she as sick as him and deserve the same treatment? And yes, I do know it was only a movie..........
 
That's the moral problem with the film. We side with Hayley because she's so cool and in control but would we feel the same if, for example, it was a teenage boy torturing a paedophile (or even a female paedophile)? The film is exploitative because it tries to make us see the issue purely in terms of her battle of wits with Jeff and ignores all the legal and moral realities of what Jeff has done to other kiRAB.

Of course it is only a movie and something of a tour-de-force for its acting and direction, but you have to take the storyline with a big pinch of salt.
 
Surely the point of the film is to make you question those very things, it's not making things simple at all. It's taking you in one direction, then leaving you at the end of the film to think about it, question how you felt and thought on the issues. A sign of it being a very good film.
 
This film makes me laugh in the sense that at the time of its release my ex boyfriend ahd been found to be cheating on me and him trying to make it up to me wanted to take me out so i chose this film which he had no idea about! It was great watching him wince about (he would never watch stuff like that normally specially painful things happening to a mans anatomy) and screw his face up so I thoroughly enjoyed the film on more than one level and loved the twists and turns that occurred.

PS I split up with him after the film too - kinda got to feel sorry for him now!! lol!
 
I couldn't get anyone to come and watch this when it was out in the cinema. WHY? "Oh it'll be too scary." Stupid pillocks that I call frienRAB eh?

I personally think it is a very good film, particularly because it covers an uneasy subject and because it is quite minimalistic.
 
This was a great film but you needed a strong stomach. Very thought provoking, you feel bad for the guy at first but once the realisation of what he has done sets in makes sense and you root for the girl, cleverly done as you feel bad for feeling pity.

I thought the actress was amazing in it, she was a right little bitch with an incredibly disturbing edge but also let a few glimpses of vulnerability show though. Not seen her in much but I thought she pulled off a master class here.

Madonna obviously liked it as she stole the name of the film for her album, which was annoying
 
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