'CANDY'S' TWISTED TALE SOURS QUICKLY.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic The gruesome thriller "Hard Candy" posits itself as a "Little Red Riding Hood Noun 1. Little Red Riding Hood - a girl in a fairy tale who meets a wolf while going to visit her grandmother " for the computer age, effectively exploiting male castration castration, removal of the sex glands of an animal, i.e., testes in the male, or ovaries and often the uterus in the female. Castration of the female animal is commonly referred to as spaying. fears and the news media's fixation with pedophiles. (Paging Bill O'Reilly Bill O'Reilly may refer to:
Sounds like fun, huh? Mostly it isn't, nor is it as incisive - and I use that word carefully here - as it thinks it is. But the movie is undeniably impressive in its ability to toy with your sympathies and thoroughly disgust and disturb you in the process. The film stylishly directed by first-timer David Slade and written by playwright Brian Nelson Brian Nelson may refer to:
Hayley suggests returning to Jeff's Hollywood Hills bachelor pad. The walls of his modern, minimalist home are adorned with his own photos of barely clothed clothe tr.v. clothed or clad , cloth·ing, clothes 1. To put clothes on; dress. 2. To provide clothes for. 3. To cover as if with clothing. pubescent pubescent /pu·bes·cent/ (pu-bes´int) 1. arriving at the age of puberty. 2. covered with down or lanugo. pu·bes·cent adj. 1. girls. Hayley doesn't seem to notice or mind. She doesn't find either the pictures or Jeff "ooky" (her favorite word) at all. In fact, it's Jeff who might want to snap out of his reverie and realize that Hayley is no ordinary girl, something he figures out a bit too late after a potent pitcher of screwdrivers. What follows is a potent game of cat-and-mouse - or, more accurately, cat and cat. Jeff and Hayley are both predators and the film's greatest flaw is its conception of its 14-year-old heroine (?) as an avenging angel of death, complete with otherworldly confidence and poise, devoid of the kind vulnerability that would mark a girl of this age. Hayley's vicious competence may make the movie more frightening, but it also robs it of any sense of reality, making it a grim fairy tale best for people who love bad news. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com HARD CANDY - Two and one half stars (R: language, disturbing violent and aberrant sexual content involving a teen) Starring: Ellen Page, Patrick Wilson. Director: David Slade. Running time: 1 hr. 39 min. Playing: ArcLight in Hollywood. In a nutshell: Little Red Riding Hood has big, sharp teeth in this gruesome computer-age thriller that is as disturbing as it is unbelievable. A grim fairy tale best for people who love bad news. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page play a pervese game of cat-and-mouse in in "Hard Candy." |
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