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I've seen Candy

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Penthesilea:
Yesterday I saw Candy in theatre. Before I'll say something about the movie itself, I have to say that I was  puzzled and displeased by the release politics.
The first week of release it was played in only two cinemas in my wider region (and there are forty of them), but at least every day and at regular times. The second week it is played only in one (!) cinema, only three times the week and at the ungodly hour of 11pm. Frustrating.

Short notice for those who don't want to know anything about the movie: it's well worth seeing it. Go and see it, I highly recommend it. It is intense and moving.
And now stop reading.

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No plot spoilers, but from here on, you get to know something more about the movie and the characters
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Candy is very intense. It's a love-story and junkie-drama. On one side it doesn't show us anything we haven't known/seen before on this topic. But most drug-dramas are too deliberate, too blatant in showing how bad drugs are. The audience is beaten over the head with the simple morale "drugs are bad and dangerous".  Not with Candy.

Somehow the reviewers on IMDB have another impression by it. Most of them claim it to be THE movie to be shown to young audiences in aim too keep youngsters from using/trying drugs (or something along these lines). I can't agree with that. But maybe this is caused by my own experiences.

On the love-story theme and the characters: awwww, they are so sweet! Their love is the counterpart to their addiction. It is not all rosy and happy (obviously) but they are just lovable together.
I love the character of Dan. Despite all his faults, he loves Candy dearly and is such a sweet and witty guy. And I guess it helps that he looks like Heath, lol  ;D
Candy is a bit more "rattier" (the word is not exactly what I mean, therefore the quotation marks), I think she can have a sharp tongue with people who are not to her gusto. And there's something about her we never get to know, some sense of previous drama.

The acting:
Do I have to say something about Heath? Guess I don't :)  He's great, he is Dan all the time. Maybe my vision is a bit blurred by my partiality for Heath and the fact that in this movie he looks more like himself than in BBM, but I don't think so.
And Abbie Cornish is just as astonishing as Heath. You can see everything in her face.

The movie is open in many aspects, what I like in movies. But in two aspects I believe it to be a flaw. The first one: Candy's relationship to her mother is distant and difficult. In one scene, Candy accuses her mother of having destroyed her live. But we never come to know if in fact something has happened, or why their relationship is as it is. Not even clues in that question.
The second one I won't tell you, because it would be a spoiler. If anyone wants to know (or has already seen Candy), you can pm me.

At the beginning, the shaky hand-held camera drove me nuts. But either it stopped or I was so much into the movie that I didn't notice it any more.

***Minor spoiler, but I think you have already heard about it***

The miscarriage scene is really, really hard to watch. It is not disgusting or drastic in the sense of bloody (you see something, but nothing too bad). But it is the characters reactions, their feelings, their black despair (and the fact that it is so superbly acted by Heath and Abby) that makes it hard to bear.

Katie77:
Gee, I am in australia and I havent seen it yet, because I live in a regional area, and it hasnt hit our cinemas yet....I'm actually expecting it to come out on dvd before it hits our local theatres....

I am looking forward to it, because most of the australian actors are well know to us here, plus to see the spots where it was filmed in Sydney.  We dont get a chance to see all that too often.

Thanks for the review.......

MaineWriter:
SPOILER....



Pent...

I heard the miscarriage scene was harrowing. I also heard that it was harrowing for Heath to film because Michelle was early in her pregnancy at the time.

L

Mikaela:
Thank you for the review! Gives a good flavour of the emotions it invoked. Makes me even more intent on seeing it. Harrowing, challenging and quite disturbing though it sounds. Good acting and believable 3-D characters and challenging storylines (and Heath, showing actual movie chemistry with an actress...) sure don't come around every day.


I'd wish they'd come around sometime soon where I live too. But the official Film site still states that the premiere date  "Remains To Be Set".

*grumbles*

All the more interestedly and eagerly will I be reading others' reviews, like yours - as they/you get to see it.  :)

Penthesilea:

--- Quote from: MaineWriter on September 30, 2006, 07:02:06 pm ---SPOILER....



Pent...

I heard the miscarriage scene was harrowing. I also heard that it was harrowing for Heath to film because Michelle was early in her pregnancy at the time.

L

--- End quote ---



***SPOILER***



Yes, it's harrowing. That's what I wanted to express by saying "really, really hard to watch".
And I can absolutely understand that it was harrowing for Heath to film it.
They actually filmed more (and even more harrowing, more detailed) than what we see in the movie.

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