Stars Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish look better than they should as heroin addicts, and their characters are too absorbed and self-pitying to be totally compelling.
Stars Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish look better than they should as heroin addicts, and their characters are too absorbed and self-pitying to be totally compelling.
A free-spirited art student and a roguish poet find their addiction to each other taking a back seat to their taste for heroin in director Neil Armfield's intensely personal tale of recreational drug use gone bad. When Candy (Abbie Cornish) and Dan (Heath Ledger) first fell in love, they both thought they had found all they ever needed in life. Despite financial hardships, the pair sustained themselves on the vibrant life force that burned blindingly bright as it promised an invincible future.
Their intoxicating romance a blissful altered state of which heroin played only a minor role in the beginning, Candy and Dan soon decide to strengthen their bond by marrying and starting a family. Their manufactured Eden gradually becomes an uncontrollable inferno, however, as Candy's parents slowly pull away due to the pain of witnessing their daughter's slow slide into oblivion, and even chemistry professor Casper (Geoffrey Rush), who was at first complicit in their experimentation, admits that Candy and Dan's blind devotion to the drug is now forever ingrained into their commitment to one and other. As the marriage deteriorates right along with Candy's increasingly fragile mental state, Dan must make the difficult decision to either rescue her or pull away in hopes that the clarity of separation will finally empower her to break free of the addiction that binds her. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
For all its depiction of a descent into drug addiction, Candy is filled with surprisingly sweet moments and goes down more easily than seems possible given the subject matter.
Both actors are immensely impressive, so perversely appealing that you want them to survive their addiction and keep on with their terrific performances.
...Because we never had a strong handle on who all these people were at the beginning, it's difficult to care about whether they're capable of redemption in the end.
Though not exactly a feelgood flick, Candy is a quite compelling cautionary tale which presents a plausible, if arresting, picture of what life might be like for a couple of co-dependent drug addicts with monkeys on their backs.
Without real characters or a fresh take on drug addiction, Candy has little to recommend it for anyone who's seen The Basketball Diaries or Requiem for a Dream.
The performances are good, but it would be hard to recommend this to anyone unless you have a lovely daughter who's dating a sleaze-bag and you want her to watch it as a deterrent.
... it feels more like something out of American cinema from the late 1960s or early 70s [and] may say more about the state of Australian film than anything else.
"Candy" won't make anyone forget "Trainspotting" (1996) or "Requiem for a Dream" (2000), but nor will "Candy" let those who see it soon forget the experience.
The question is whether "Candy" is intended to be an honest and unflinching look at the junkie life, or merely trying to top "Trainspotting" and its ilk.
17/07/2010 (TELEVISION)A pretty emotional flick. This film took me downhill with them and I couldn't stand the hopelessness.It's a terrific drama and I love these ones that are able to extract your feelings.I felt this was also educational in a way because now I'm aware of the impact that drugs can have.
It's no Requiem for a Dream, but it's an effective viewing of the price you pay when addicted to drugs. It has good performances too. After watching this and Requiem in a short period of time, I don't think I can possibly even imagine doing drugs in any form. These films have done their job.
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