Film: There are always films for which it is important to learn as little as possible about them in advance in order to feel their full effect. "Hard Candy" is one such film. A haunting chamber drama with great potential to cause controversy, it thrives on its surprises and psychological twists. To reveal too much about the content would be a sin. Therefore, only this much: the early 30-year-old photographer Jeff (Patrick Wilson) maintains lively Internet contact with the 14-year-old Hayley (Ellen Page) and is always surprised by her quick wit, intelligence and sexual maturity. One day, the two decide to meet and Jeff is amazed when Hayley wants to go home with him after only a short time. At first the photographer hesitates a bit, but then invites his underage internet acquaintance to his luxurious apartment. Once there, everything seems to be going well for both of them. But suddenly everything changes, the meeting turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, where it is often not quite clear who is the perpetrator and who is the victim.
"Hard Candy" consists almost entirely of dialogue. Still, watching the film is at times extremely painful, upsetting and by no means light fare. Director David Slade, who delivers an impressive directorial debut with this thriller, cleverly knows how to manipulate the viewer into never knowing exactly whose side to be on. And just when this seems to be clear, the next psychological twist comes along, which then turns the whole thing upside down again. That the film works in this way is due not only to Slade's fine direction and Jo Willems' mesmerizing camerawork, but probably first and foremost to the two stunningly good leads. Patrick Wilson fills his role with a balanced mix of sympathy and twilight, while the then 17 (and now 19) year old Ellen Page, last seen in "X-Men: The Last Stand" as mutant Kitty Pride, is simply terrifyingly good. The psychological duel the two engage in certainly took a lot out of the actors, but the result is more than impressive acting!
"Hard Candy" is disturbing and brutal, with the physical brutality taking place not on screen, but only in the viewer's mind, while the film itself is almost entirely limited to psychological violence. The ending then also leaves the viewer quite disturbed, as it reveals to you that you may have been showing your sympathies to the wrong person all along. If you then transfer this to a possible reality, this can definitely lead to quite an uneasy feeling and a doubting of your own morals or judgement. But even if such a thought pattern does not arise after the film, "Hard Candy" will definitely provide plenty of food for discussion. Certainly not a film for the masses and also nothing that people with weak nerves should watch. For lovers of sophisticated and extremely haunting psychological thrillers, however, this work is an absolute must!
Picture: At first, especially the color scheme seems a little strange to the viewer. However, it soon becomes apparent that the heavily filtered colors are an integral part of the film, as is the high contrast, and therefore an important stylistic device. Overall, the image is clean and sharp, with slight noise detectable here and there. Nevertheless, all in all, there is a deserved: good!
Sound: The sound is relatively unspectacular. Every now and then the music creates a spatial sound effect, which is also achieved by the occasional ambient noise in decent form. The dialogue is mixed with good intelligibility. There is little difference between the German DD 5.1 and DTS tracks, with the English soundtrack sounding a little quieter overall than its German counterpart. Good!
Extras: The double DVD comes in a nifty steel-book, which is all the rage at the moment. On the film DVD, in addition to a couple of trailers, are two audio commentaries. Director David Slade and writer Brian Nelson deliver a very worn, highly interesting commentary about the making of the film and the shooting. The second commentary comes from actors Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson. Especially watching the very intense scenes between the two, it is pleasant to hear how harmoniously the actors seem to get along with each other. So their commentary is also very relaxed, even quite amusing from time to time, but no less interesting than the director's commentary. Both commentaries, like the rest of the extras, are subtitled in German.
On the second disc are some dropped scenes (about 10 mins in total), which deepen a few moments in the film, but overall don't really miss the story. The multi-part, nearly 50 minute making of highlights the entire production without the usual promotional chatter, though there is a lot of overlap with the director's audio commentary. But since other people involved also get a chance to speak here, the whole thing is well worth watching. A short supplementary featurette (approx. 9 mins) and DVD previews, some of which were also on the first DVD though, round out the interesting extra material.
Conclusion: "Hard Candy" is not exactly what is commonly referred to as light entertainment. But the bitterly wicked chamber play is absolutely worth watching for the two leads and the great emotional intensity alone. The DVD can convince technically and pleases with the good, commercial-free bonus material.
Original title: Hard Candy
Director: David Slade
Number of Discs: 2
Languages: German (Dolby Digital 5.1 + DTS), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: German, English
Image Format: 16:9 (2.35:1)
Extras: Audio Commentaries, Making of, Featurette, Cut Scenes, Trailer
FSK: No Youth Rating
Length: approx. 100 mins
Regional Code: 2
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
