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Review #355 of 365
Movie Review of Candy (2006) [R] 108 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.50
Where Viewed: Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 2 January 2007
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Neil Armfield (Twelfth Night)
Written by: Neil Armfield (Twelfth Night) and Luke Davies based on his novel
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Abbie Cornish (Somersault) • Heath Ledger (Casanova) • Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) • Tony Martin ("Mary Bryant") • Noni Hazlehurst (Little Fish)
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Some may feel upon seeing Candy, the Australian version of Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream, that we've seen people's lives plunge into the depths of hell due to serious heroine addiction a time too many before for this film to be of any relevance. The concept is neither new nor fresh. It's been handled in the extreme artistic sense by Aronosky, and there's nothing new to learn. To those I would suggest that the reason smoking is on the rise amongst the planet's youth is precisely because new generations constantly rise up from childhood—too early for my taste—who were not exposed to the traveling set of lung cancer infested black lungs we saw in school as children. As we are the teachers now who patently do not smoke and find it vile and vote for ever-increasing zones of smoking prohibition to protect ourselves, we presume those youth behind us, too, will find smoking equally repugnant, dangerous, and malevolent. Instead, they find it classy, cool, sophisticated, and, yes, dangerous, but not deadly. The cycle repeats. We see more and more 'cool' characters smoking on camera, and an industry that has only one way to recover from the mega-billions in lawsuits it has endured by addicting new legions of smokers to pay off its debts. So, I say bravo to Candy, and I pray there will be a new anti-heroine film every decade. Every generation of young people needs to see the film made for them with stars they know in settings familiar.
"…the best Australian release I saw this year…"
Director Neil Armfield and co-writer and novelist Luke Davies have, perhaps, personalized their take on the incredibly woeful and desperate effects on the lives of two young lovers whose love, they feel, reaches new planes of reality due to their other shared purpose, injecting heroine into their veins. The make-up artists did a phenomenal job of increasing the drawn, scary, wasted, sad, expressionless eyes of actors Heath Ledger who plays boyfriend and poet Dan to Abbie Cornish's sometimes artist Candace 'Candy' Wyatt. She falls for him madly, deeply, and follows him like the white rabbit down the enveloping hole that grips your mind and soul that is heroine addiction. In no time, they realize they are utterly and hopelessly addicted, but stopping is absolutely out of the question despite the fact that they have had to sell nearly every previous possession of any value, borrow money from anyone who will loan it (Abbie's parents and Casper—a long-time friend and drug supplier of Dan's [Geoffrey Rush]), and eventually must resort to Abbie's prostitution as a source of money to buy the drug. Throughout the cleanly divided chapters of their lives, they do have moments of clarity. They decide they should get married. Somehow, it seems that this might divert their brain's attention span for a moment away from the drug. The wedding tides them over just until the reception when Dan can listen to one of Jim Wyatt's friends drone on about getting into the market only so long before he required an injection. Abbie's parents know what's going on, but they love their daughter too much to be able to admit it to themselves and do the only thing that might save her and intervene. Shortly thereafter, their rent comes due which they cannot pay and Dan commits the ultimate in credit card crime to acquire over $7,000 Australian to keep them afloat only to return to learn that Candy is, unfortunately, pregnant. Without help, the couple decides to embrace the baby and begin to wean themselves off the drugs. As the baby gets closer and closer to its birthday, they decided nothing short of going cold turkey will break them free. After three days, they fail, and Abbie loses the baby in something called an unfortunate miscarriage. Neither of them seem to realize the damage being done to the baby throughout the pregnancy as they continue to use drugs and then try to wean themselves using alcohol, pain pills, and smoking. Well, the loss of the baby is nonetheless devastating and encourages them to try a move to the countryside and to enter a methadone program. It might have worked. Dan seemed to be making some progress. But, Abbie, as she starts to recover, cannot face the reality of what has become of her life, and she takes a few steps in the wrong directions mentally. The stunning and startling climax of her downward spiral in to mental illness lacked only the haunting music of Clint Mansell's "Lux Aeterna" to make it as powerful as that which we saw in Requiem. In fact, the music in Candy, overall, that is not as strong as it could have been, and in a film which relies so heavily on silence and visual cues from the actors, the power of the score is absolutely essential.
As with its predecessors, this film is a tumultuous and realistic, one-way roller coaster straight down into hell from which the essence and vitality of one's life can never be recovered. Try as we might, we are but mere humans with brains that rely on the natural balance in the chemical soup that makes up our brains. As strong and in control we might think ourselves to be, we are at that soup's mercy. Mix in other chemicals that mimic the natural ones or block them from their purpose and the results, while temporarily unreal, leave indelible, unnerving, desperate, catastrophic addictions from which there may NEVER be an escape. How truly pitiful to see the lives of people shattered before your eyes? How much worse to see them knowingly and willfully destroy their futures? How awful to see the impact on their families and the baby they would never know? But worse to know that there are millions of people in the world addicted to drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Anything any one of us can to do intervene on the behalf of a loved one and work to prevent addiction in the first place we must do. We must never stop touring the black lungs, we must never stop showing Requiem or Trainspotting, we must never cease in our vigilence to offer young people non-addictive outlets for self-expression, freedom, and 'danger'. Worst of all, we must never assume that because we know things are no good, that we don't need to worry about the next generation of young people.
Candy serves its lineage well. Mr. Armfield takes the subject matter and blends in incredibly strong performances from Mr. Ledger and Ms Cornish. Their world becomes our world as we witness their horrific downfall as they lose themselves, lives unraveling, futures imploding, and self-worths destroyed. This was, by far, the best Australian release I saw this year, and it was terrific to see the Australian talent in a homegrown film.
As with its predecessors, this film is a tumultuous and realistic, one-way roller coaster straight down into hell from which the essence and vitality of one's life can never be recovered. Try as we might, we are but mere humans with brains that rely on the natural balance in the chemical soup that makes up our brains. As strong and in control we might think ourselves to be, we are at that soup's mercy. Mix in other chemicals that mimic the natural ones or block them from their purpose and the results, while temporarily unreal, leave indelible, unnerving, desperate, catastrophic addictions from which there may NEVER be an escape. How truly pitiful to see the lives of people shattered before your eyes? How much worse to see them knowingly and willfully destroy their futures? How awful to see the impact on their families and the baby they would never know? But worse to know that there are millions of people in the world addicted to drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Anything any one of us can to do intervene on the behalf of a loved one and work to prevent addiction in the first place we must do. We must never stop touring the black lungs, we must never stop showing Requiem or Trainspotting, we must never cease in our vigilence to offer young people non-addictive outlets for self-expression, freedom, and 'danger'. Worst of all, we must never assume that because we know things are no good, that we don't need to worry about the next generation of young people.
Candy serves its lineage well. Mr. Armfield takes the subject matter and blends in incredibly strong performances from Mr. Ledger and Ms Cornish. Their world becomes our world as we witness their horrific downfall as they lose themselves, lives unraveling, futures imploding, and self-worths destroyed. This was, by far, the best Australian release I saw this year, and it was terrific to see the Australian talent in a homegrown film.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Candy (2006)
Cast Members
Abbie Cornish
• Heath Ledger • Geoffrey Rush • Tony Martin • Noni HazlehurstWriter / Director
Neil Armfield
| Book | DVD | |
Candy (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Candy Director Neil Armfield and co-writer Luke Davies deliver their take on the desperate effects on the lives of young lovers whose love, they believe, reaches new heights due to their other shared purpose, injecting heroine into their veins. The make-up artists outdid themselves with the drawn, scary, wasted, sad, expressionless eyes of actors Heath Ledger who plays boyfriend and poet Dan to Abbie Cornish's sometimes artist Candace 'Candy' Wyatt. She falls for him madly following him on the tumultuous and realistic, one-way, mind-gripping roller coaster that is a heroine addiction. The stunning and startling climax of Candy's downward spiral into mental illness due to years of addiction lacked only the haunting music of Clint Mansell's "Lux Aeterna" to make it as powerful as that which we saw in Requiem for a Dream. Candy serves its lineage well with incredibly strong performances from Mr. Ledger and Ms Cornish.
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