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A Filmmaker's Guide: "Hard Candy" (2005)

5/5 - An intensely dark thriller

By Annie KapurPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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This thriller is possibly one of the most intense thrillers you'll ever watch that has cropped up straight out of 21st century nightmares. The 21st century nightmare in this film involves what happens when a little girl speaks online to an older man and I can honestly say that if you were a little girl (a minor) online in the first decade of the 21st century you probably experienced you fair share of older men wanting to chat/meet up with you. Saying "no" for some girls can be difficult I know, but seriously it wasn't very difficult for me because as soon as I told them my mom was a cop shit turned. But in some cases, the girl can be terrified and seriously, I think that hitting on minors is a problem for a lot of men from the top ranks to the bottom jobs - I really don't know what it is with men and either little girls or women behaving like little girls. It kind of grosses me out.

Anyways, my history with this film is fairly simple. I watched it some time ago, maybe about ten years ago actually and though I didn't watch it again until last night, when it cropped up on my Amazon feed a few days before I was wondering what it was about this movie that made me feel sick the last time I watched it. I couldn't really remember and so, I decided to have another watch, thinking my stomach was stronger than before. I threw up twice during the movie. Clearly, my stomach was not stronger than before. In fact, I think my nausea may have been compromised.

When watching this film the first thing you notice is the cinematography and how experimental it is. We not only have close-ups and extreme close-ups, we have these shots that move around in an arc motion or a dolly to the character as if examining them from the POV of an intruder. Not necessarily the other character though. The shot begins to dolly around the character in a semi-circle motion, meeting the walls in the shot as they come in as if to show entrapment. It's a remarkable way of doing things and one of the only times I've ever actually seen the shot work as planned.

The one thing though, I've mentioned before, that I like about this film is the use of extreme close-up. The extreme close-up is when you view either the part of a object or character instead of the whole, showing something that may delight the viewer or add meaning to the scene. For example: we have extreme close-ups on the eyes of the characters from time to time not only to show us that they are paying close attention to something but it is also to show us the intensity of their expression. It is a clever way of doing things because then, the actor must put all of that expression into one aspect of their face, but it makes it easier for the story to be told since we get a more human look at the characters. Most people express first through their eyes and so, the expressions and extreme close-ups on the eyes make for a very human viewing experience. It sort of brings everything into perspective and you either take the good side or the bad side. Personally, I have no sympathy for the guy who got castrated. If you haven't seen the film yet, please don't be put off by that remark.

Another thing I liked about this film is that the vast majority of it is set in one room/building. The rest of it is set in the garden/front porch, the cafe but the majority of the film is set inside that one house and it makes for a great viewing experience. Not done too often, the film has one main setting and everything else is a minute add-on here and there. But it works because the story is so violent and yet so secretive - if anyone else were to intervene the film would not be as realistic. You would have to have that one, main private setting in order to give the realism as much punch and kick as possible.

In conclusion, this film is a masterpiece of thriller and in most ways, it has become one of the icons of 21st century terror through its abundance of nightmares. Especially those regarding the children you would hopefully wish to protect. It plays on very human nightmares and yet expresses itself in an experimental way. It really does work when you pay attention.

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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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