Candy (2005)

This story is a narration from an Australian man who falls in love with two kinds of Candy: a woman of the same name and heroin. The narrator changes from a smart-aleck to someone trying to find a vein to inject while Candy changes from an actress call girl streetwalker and then a madwoman. Starting in Sydney the two eventually end up in Melbourne to go clean but they fail. This leads them to turn to finding money and heroin while other posessions and attachments become unimportant.System Requirements:Run Time: 108 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 821575549950 Manufacturer No: TF-54995 Product Description

 well acted but lacking something......
I think it's always a bit tricky to translate books properly onto screen. The book this movie was based on was an okay book with some amazing parts and the movie is pretty much the same (perhaps having the writer of the book also co-write the screenplay had something to do with it).

It's a movie about despondent youth who turn to drugs for a more vibrant life and not realizing until it's too late at what cost. There are plenty of movies with the same theme and nothing about this film stood out above the rest.

The acting was great but the movie started with Dan (Heath Ledger) and Candy (Abby Cornish) already using drugs and I never felt attached to them as characters until much later. The viewer always assumed that Dan was the reason Candy started using but we discover that Abby's childhood was not all rosey as it first seemed and that Candy was the one more strongly dependent on drugs. There were lots of interesting points but they were never delved into with any depth.

The movie was okay. I'd recommend Requiem for a Dream (Director's Cut), Spun (Unrated Version), or even London over this one. March 7, 2008

 Melodrama
Ah, the drug film. A genre unto its own, drug films tend to either a.) Portray drug addiction as a horrific nightmare ("Requiem for a Dream") b.)Use it as a tool for dark, twisted comedy ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas") or c.) Some combination of the two ("Trainspotting"). "Candy" is clearing aiming for the a) category, portraying young Australian lovers Dan and Candy, whose lives spin out of control when they become heroin junkies.

If the subject wasn't so familiar in modern cinema, this film might have been powerful and shocking, but since so many superior films have already covered familiar territory, the film comes across as derivative at best and melodramatic at its worst. The film is clearly aiming to show how degrading drug addiction is, so we see Dan and Candy stealing, lying, living in squalor and prostituting themselves to feed their habit. Often the film goes so over the top that instead of being shocking, my reaction was more like "Oh, come on!" ... the most obvious example being when Dan and Candy are left in the hospital to cuddle with their dead, stillborn baby.

What saves the film is the performances. Heath Ledger is terrific, fleshing out the lazy, self-indulgent, romantic and ultimately more practical character of Dan. (And I'm not just giving him props because of the circumstances of his recent tragic death). Geoffrey Rush also gives a fine supporting performance playing Dan and Candy's flamboyant "mentor". Abbie Cornish gives a decent performance (though not on the same level as Ledger or Rush), but her character is written as so histrionic that it's hard to imagine any actress really excelling in the role.

Overall, I'd call this a mediocre film with good performances that is probably worth a look if you're a fan of the drug film genre or of Heath Ledger.
February 27, 2008

 White Candy
Back in 2002 I went through a phase in which I wanted to read novels concerning heroin addiction. I read Ryu Murakami's Almost Transparent Blue, William S. Burroughs' Junky and Queer, and Hunter S. Thompson's, more about excessive drug use than heroin addiction, one after the other. I am not quite sure how I came across Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, but its green cover depicting nothing more than a couple of rusted spoons fascinated me and I purchased the novel and read it over a couple of days. I must say while the book was not quite as well written as some of the previous books that I have mentioned, Candy had some of the most grueling and wretched chapters that I have ever read concerning both withdrawal and filth that total addiction can become. (There was a scene in the book when the narrator had to pull out crabs from one of Candy's most private areas in the novel which, of course, did not make it into the film) Sow when I heard that Candy had been made into a film I was on it like white on rice.

Candy opens with Dan, Heath Ledger, a friend, and his girlfriend Candy getting ready to take some heroin. Dan chops up the dope finely with a razorblade for the girl to snort, but she tells him that she wants to do it his way by injection. Unfortunately after her first time taking heroin this way, Candy nearly dies, but is saved by Dan when he injects her with salt water. This brief scene foreshadows the downfall the couple will face, but their strong bond of love, as well as addiction carries them on and they eventually marry much to the discontent of Candy's white bread family. After their marriage, and as their addiction grows, the young couple begin to steal more and Candy becomes a prostitute to support their habit. When will it end?

Candy is a slow, meditative film on the horrors of addiction and how said addiction can not only destroy oneself, but those around one as well and while it might not be quite as hard hitting as the novel, it is still an example of some quite good filmmaking. February 21, 2008

 Brilliant and absorbing
Sadly I give my review after Heath Ledger's death...I have watched this movie several times in bits and pieces over the past two months and have gotten something new from it each time. I got the chance to sit and watch the whole thing through on January 21st. This movie sucks you in and holds your attention.

It runs the gambit of emotions. It made me cry with their losses; it made me mad they had no strength; and when their spirits broke - well, you'll just need to watch it. This is a story from a bright beginning down the dark path to an ending that was beautifully perfomed and which put Heath Ledger in the top 3 on my list of favorite actors. I already miss the movies we will never see from this man. February 1, 2008

 Well-Acted and Convincing; Still Familair
"Candy" - not to be confused with the 1968 comedy of the same title.

Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish give great performances as Dan and Candy, couple in love both addicted to heroin in this small Aussie film. It is the world of the characters who say they can and will change tomorrow but they don't. Like Al Pacino in "The Panic in Needle Park," the film works as convincing portrait of the youth who has nowhere to go, who knows virtually nothing about themselves and their life except that they are slowly going down.

My 3 star rating is based solely on the authenticity of each episode, not the way they are connected to one another. Director Neil Armfield (also respected theater director) knows how to tap the depth of actors' skills, but still couldn't overcome the episodic nature of the source material. (The film is based on a book by Luke Davies who also co-wrote the script with the director). About 30 minutes in, we realize that for all the riveting turns from the actors and three-dimensional characters the film offers familiar things except the very impressive ending. Even the fantastic support (more like a cameo) from Geoffrey Rush as "chemist" Casper couldn't change that.

"Candy" is well-acted and often depressing, but not as devastating as "Requiem for a Dream" thanks to the romantic side of the story, love-hate relation between Candy and Dan, which could have been explored more.
October 19, 2007

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