DVD Review: Candy

By April MacIntyre Mar 26, 2007, 23:39 GMT

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. ...more

"Listen Philip, we're junkies, I'm a hooker, he's hopeless, alright now as things are very complicated, we haven't got any money…" - Candy
"When you can quit, you don't want to. When you want to quit, you can't" - Casper

"Candy" is an adapted film based on author Luke Davies book that reveals the early life arc of Dan and Candy in three acts: Heaven, Earth and Hell.  Director Neil Armfield and Davies penned the screenplay that artfully reaffirms the bad news that accompanies the good times of getting high. 

Everything has its price.  It's bittersweet and full of memorable performances by stars Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush and Abbie Cornish, who came on the scene in "Somersault," another Aussie film.

There are no great revelations in Candy. It is a sort of junkie "Dick and Jane versus the World" theme that paints a wide picture of the seduction and fun of getting high initially, then the inevitable deceit spiral that alienates and destroys families, looks and futures.  Candy and Dan are a good match, except for the drugs.  Rush as Casper is interesting as their Bohemian enabling fairy Godchemist, a real Doctor of Organic chemistry who loves them both, can transform ordinary morphine into hospital grade Heroin and is plagued by the same sickness and guilt for supplying them.

"Candy" is the story of boy is Dan (Heath Ledger), a poet and dedicated addict, who becomes ensnared by two Candies, the girl Candy (Abbie Cornish), a young naïve painter, and the other Candy, Heroin.  Ledger and Cornish have chemistry on-screen, as he casually underplays Dan's downright Pied Piper to Hell boyfriend as Candy's parents helplessly watch their daughter succumb to his magnetism. 

There is no clear idea why Candy was so susceptible to the drug life, her parents seem to be as normally annoying as anyone else's, but whatever her reason, we witness her easy transition and plunge into the constantly inserted visual metaphor swimming pool of Dan's highlife.

"Candy" is a sympathetic but not too realistic visual journey of the price you have to pony up for the love of the needle.   The shock scenes of their baby born dead at second trimester are quite graphic, and it wakes you up from Candy and Dan's daily reverie of petty thefts, hooking, attempts at embezzlement and bank fraud.  The fun has come to an end.

The THINKFilm DVD includes a commentary by director and screenwriter and two making-of featurettes.

The film is a bit a of a wannabe classic romance, and doesn't have the rough humor of "Trainspotting" or ferocity of "Requiem for a Dream", just Ledger's hapless Dan who plays off the warm and sweet Cornish.  He is a clueless loser in love who finally gets "it" too late. It's all well done, but you've see this story many times before.

Candy is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for an April 23rd release. Visit the DVD database for more information.