Candy Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
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.
| Abbie Cornish | Candy |
| Heath Ledger | Dan |
| Geoffrey Rush | Casper |
| Tom Budge | Schumann |
| Roberto Meza-Mont | Jorge |
| Tony Martin | Jim Wyatt |
| Noni Hazlehurst | Elaine Wyatt |
| Holly Austin | Sunglasses Shop Assistant |
| Craig Moraghan | Washing Machine Dealer |
| John Lee | Hock Shop Man |
| Noel Herriman | Celebrant |
| Tim McKenzie | Uncle Rod |
| Tara Morice | Aunt Katherine |
| Maddi Newling | Janey |
| Patricia Lemon | Wedding Guest |
| Neil Armfield |
8.00 out of 10 (12 votes)
Visitor Reviews
boom
posted on 27 Jul 2009has anyone seen the booms that are glaringly obvious in almost every screen in this movie? please tell me if you have and was this intentional if so why? i did miss the first 10 minutes but i didn't think that camera crews following them around would be the plot? the rest of the movie seems really cool and what other movies would you recommend by this director does he always use booms in everything that he makes and if so why? i have to write 10 lines so what else shall i shay than yeah it was good booms are funny things to see in a really serious film and go see it and tell me if you can see those booms i'm talking about?
No Invention, No Subtext, No Point
posted on 03 Jul 2009How on earth did this film garner such inexplicably praiseful plaudits on the festival circuit last year? You can colour me entirely baffled. The studio's plot synopsis remains genuinely intriguing, but the film proper appears to have excised all of this potentially interesting material; namely, the dynamic it claims to examine between the titular character (stitched up by her attraction to the bohemian lifestyle, apparently) and Ledger's dozy poet.That, at the very least, sounds like something worth exploring. But instead, we are given film that is so painfully familiar and uninventive that I can genuinely tell you, with all sincerity, that there is absolutely no reason to watch it. The two central performances shine brilliantly for the first half hour or so; after that, we're treated to the rather nauseating display of two talented actors trying feverishly to out-twitch each other.The main problem though, is that the movie has no narrative drive. We start in hell, and (despite the film's attempt to shoe-horn in periodic 'Heaven', 'Hell' and 'Earth' titlecards that have absolutely no bearing on the content of the story, and are, as an idea, clearly cribbed from Aronofsky's Requiem adaptation) we don't once move out of the pits. After barely 15 minutes of running time, and a surfeit of characterisation and/or plot, Candy is already driven to prostituting herself to fund her habit. Where can the film possibly go after that? I'd tell you, but you already know, surely?As the film plummets ever deeper into misery and predictable squalor, fewer and fewer surprises are encountered, and the mind can't help but wander to the superior movies that this one can't help but reference.Annoyingly, there is the odd excellent scene (for example, the frenzied, buzzy sequence in the bank brilliantly evokes the nervy excitement and brazen amorality of life on the fringes) but it is always quickly followed by a plot point so brain-fryingly soapy that any positive momentum is quashed immediately. *SPOILER* After the guilty euphoria of the bank episode, Ledger's character returns home to find out that Candy is pregnant with his child. Strewth! Where is THAT story going to end up? I'd tell you, but you already know, surely? *END SPOILER*And to add insult to injury, it looks like utter hell; with its bland, studio-lit sets and washed- out cinematography, it looks like a gently bleached version of Home and Away. The screenplay is no great shakes either; strictly join-the-dots plot wise, it also employs drab, repetitive, naturalistic dialogue that does evoke a certain realism, but serves to make all of the characters, bar none, completely uninteresting and unlikeable. Go and rent Drugstore Cowboy or Christiane F instead of this well intentioned, but totally empty hack-job of lazy cod-soapery.
Choose life ! Possible spoilers!!!
posted on 21 Jun 2009Candy, played skilfully by the beautiful Abi Cornish; nice enough on the outside but without her daily dose the reality of her life drives her to deep clinical depression. Dan, her man, the mighty Heath Ledger, wants to do the right thing but the drugs don't help ... however is his addiction really what we initially think it is? As with many relationships, the two play off each other with harmony and discord, the weight of the acting developing a real sense of belonging and distance as their love turns to dependency and then to the inevitable loathing when the crutch of the heroin is taken away. Technically this was a great script, directed well and flawlessly executed by the lead characters and the support cast. The Aussies are doing these movies well. If you like depth of characters then you'll love this. If you are looking for something that depicts real heroin addiction in its nastiest form, look more for Trainspotting and the like, this is a love story which will draw you in if you let it. However, whilst substantial, no Oscar nominations here. Instead of really delving into the horror and the tenderness to produce a masterpiece, the movie as a whole fails to deliver the killer blow.Personally I felt for the useless Dan more than for Candy, no doubt the onlooker will identify with each based on gender. You will find yourself becoming an armchair social worker as you watch helplessly on ... no happy endings here, but ain't that real life?
Tragic, drug fueled romance a bit excessive but a near triumph
posted on 01 Jun 2009Intense love story centered on two star-crossed junkies delivers a harrowing and intimate account of heroin addiction, coupled with the association of romantic bliss, to form a bittersweet narrative that can't quite reconcile all thematic intent. From a novel, director Neil Armfield smartly divides the tormented affair into three appropriate acts, each with their own specific relation to the addict's current mentality, and although the script is wonderfully conceived and gracefully plotted, the slightly illogical climax and unfulfilled resolution seemed to undermine so much of a viable integrity found in these powerfully conceived characters. Although the ending was justifiably bittersweet and full of noble intent, a majority of the film spends so much time involving viewers in the realistically engaging performances that one can't help but feel psychologically shortchanged when an erratic and under-explained change in behavior yields the near fruitless finish.The Australian production gets by with it's admirably impressive portrait into the lives of truly addicted people, though it is the fierce dedication from our leads that will give Candy it's eventual indie longevity. Heath Ledger has never been better, coming from a more natural place then anything else, in a role that seems tailor-made for him to play. Opposite, Abbie Cornish absolutely holds her own as the good girl gone wrong in a noteworthy performance that has already helped gain her a slightly larger reputation in the states. Unfortunately, pronouncement of the great Geoffrey Rush as third-billed is merely a marketing ploy, as he delivers more a glorified cameo then anything else...everyone does since screen time is consumed with this couple's intriguingly warped embrace.A bit overwrought at times (though circumstance would certainly demand that to a degree) Candy is still a haunting, undeniably powerful sketch of two lover's as addicted to each other as they are to the needle; a film immediately appealing to intense romantics abound.
overrated and overwrought
posted on 30 May 2009This movie fails for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its insistence to lean on "drugs" for all or most of its drama. The movie does an awful job of developing the characters or of allowing the viewer to care about them before jumping right in to the "drug" problem. If there had been some backstory, some reason to care that these two are slowly destroying themselves and their lives with drugs, one might have been persuaded to buy into the story. But as it was, the characters seem little more than cardboard cutouts. Ledger's character is a "poet",or so we are told, but there is little evidence that he is or that he even cares about words or language. There is only that one gratuitous reading of a poem, or part of one, and it seems completely out of context as if it were just "thrown in" so we would buy in that he is, truly, a poet. And Cornish's artistic endeavors consists of one nice painting and scribbling on the walls, which is "read" to us by Ledger's character even though as it was scribbled there is no way he could have read it.Overall, the movie was boring, not well written or filmed, and not worth the time. I fear that this movie's higher rating has more to do with Ledger's tragic death than the quality of the movie.
Dreaming pink and blue...
posted on 22 May 2009I loved this movie with all my heart. And it's a shame many critics and viewers were insensible to its charm.Critics DO make, admittedly, a good point in that the movie brings nothing new to the "drug-addiction drama" genre from a thematic point of view. There have been plenty of movies detailing the downward spiral addicts face and how promising young lives are ruined by the effects of drugs.The film's qualities lie, however, in the approach, the tone that this movie sets. Stylistically, it's like a complete antithesis to the more well-received "Requiem for a Dream" (which I found to be overrated). Whereas that movie is aggressive, heavy-handed and eager to drive its message forcefully, this movie is delicate, soft, it possesses an almost lyrical beauty, despite the sometimes lurid subject matter.One factor that helps the movie enormously is the cast. Heath Ledger I already knew as a very talented actor, and veteran Geoffrey Rush can only bring good things to a movie, but it was newcomer Australian actress Abbie Cornish that really fascinated me. Her incredible blonde beauty, her dreamy green eyes, the delicacy, warmth and femininity she exuded in every frame, made me root for her at an almost visceral level, hoping that she would survive this nightmare and be able to live a happy, fulfilled life afterwards.I also admired the ending. There were so many ways to get the ending (so crucial in movies of this type) wrong, and yet the filmmakers got it so right. It's not a cheesy "they lived happily ever after" ending, but neither is it vulgar or unnecessarily cruel with its protagonists. There is loss, but there is hope as well.Candy is the kind of small-budget movie I will NEVER get enough of. If there would have been a Velvet Underground song on the soundtrack, I would have given it a 10. ;) PS: Watch the end credits for a beautiful (and untraceable) ballad not included in the soundtrack.
Incredibly accurate, dramatically compelling story of heroin addicts in love
posted on 16 May 2009Here's the all around best film about drug addicts since Gus Van Sant's 1989 cult hit, "Drugstore Cowboy." Specifically with reference to heroin addiction (the characters in "Cowboy" were polysubstance prescription drug addicts), "Candy" offers a far more representative and fully developed picture of that particular addiction than many of its predecessors, like "Man With the Golden Arm," "High Art," "Requiem for a Dream" or the recent film, "Clean," and it holds its own when compared with "Trainspotting" and "Pure," two of the all time best junkie films.Though it's a love story, "Candy's" narrative arc is in fact the arc of addiction itself. Dan (Heath Ledger), an addicted slacker, meets and falls in love with Candy (Abbie Cornish), a beautiful artist, truly a vision of womanly perfection, candy for the eye and the heart, among other organs. I suppose Candy sees in Dan what some vulnerable women all too often find attractive: somebody to dote upon and look after, possibly rehabilitate, change into the man of her dreams. We then follow the couple through the bliss of early love, then marriage, then down the rabbit hole into ever more serious mutual addiction, for Candy almost begs to be initiated into heroin use early on.Don't get me wrong, though. This is no cut and dried clinical saga. It may resemble many heartbreaking case histories, but this story is well written and well acted; it's got sturdy dramatic legs to stand on. Apart from being drop dead gorgeous, Ms. Cornish gives a highly skilled turn. She goes through so many poignant changes, ranging from naïf to drug addled vixen.Mr. Ledger, fresh off his astonishing performance in "Brokeback Mountain," here gives us another troubled, morose character not unlike "Brokeback's" Ennis or his earlier, smaller role as the suicidal Sonny in "Monster's Ball." Ledger needs to watch out lest he become typecast as an actor for depressive characters. But he is so good at them! Aiding the proceedings is a splendid supporting turn by Geoffrey Rush as Casper the friendly dope maker, a chemistry professor who has turned his skills to perfecting designer opioids.The ending is so similar to that in "Drugstore Cowboy" that I suspect a homage was planned. But that takes nothing away from the dramatic appropriateness of "Candy's" wrap up. Mark this one down as one of the best psychflix ever made about addictions. My grades: 8.5/10 (A-)(Seen on 12/09/06)
I watch this movie whenever I don't have anything else to watch...
posted on 06 May 2009This movie is great!! Just the perfect dose of non-stop humor but very different from the "silly comedies humor". I think that this is the best movie Heath Ledger have ever participated in and shows how confident he is when trying to behave as any personage on screen. And for those who think that it is "another drug movie" - it's something more!!! It's the way I want to live my life like and the way people should behave and react. Because we have to live in every second of our lives and that is the main message of the movie!!! And as for Abbie Cornish - she's great and is really persiasive in her role - quite confident and look-in' sharp on screen!!!!
Bittersweet romance under the shadow of smack
posted on 11 Mar 2009Saw Candy - wonderful performances from a marvellous cast. Beautifully shot etc. One thing did strike me as being strange -- the casting of Noni Hazlehurst as the Mum who harangues her daughter and fails to comprehend her choices. This actress is well-known (in Oz, anyway) for her brilliant portrayal twenty years ago as a junkie in "Monkey Grip". So, casting her in this diametrically opposed role did not serve the movie well *at all* I found it so distracting, and completely at odds with the purpose of the casting, that it did my head in! Another quibble -- a truly hilarious scene from the novel, where Dan tries to rob a bank, was not in the movie. Too bad. Armfield also changed what happened to Geoffrey Rush's character, which was interesting to observe. In the movie he gives him a much more poetic trajectory.Otherwise Candy is an excellent druggy pic and love story and definitely worth seeing if you don't remember Christiane F etc
A watered down movie about the horrors of addiction
posted on 05 Feb 2009When I saw the storyline for Candy, and the cast (Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush) I TiVo'ed it with the excitement of what was certainly going to be an excellent piece of storytelling. How wrong I was. The characters were mainly cutouts, and the story was actually milquetoast. The one concession, and the grittiest moment was during Candy's miscarriage. But one 15 minute scene does not a movie make. The performances were admirable, Abbie Cornish is a very talented actress, and Heath Ledger is quite decent as well. Geoffrey Rush was completely wasted in this film, though. His talent far exceeded the role, thereby making his few on screen moments seem campy and overdone.If you want to see the true grit of a bleak storyline such as heroin addiction, I recommend Christiane F. or Panic in Needle Park. For subject matter, they are much better, and more three dimensional than this piece of fluff.
Really beautiful
posted on 03 Feb 2009Really, really beautiful film. The chemistry between Heath and Abbie is outstanding, not to mention both are very talented actors. The realism that is portrayed makes it heart wrenching to watch when their romance starts to disintegrate. Geoffrey Rush was also a very good choice for the role of Casper.I think that the first three minutes of this film were absolutely brilliant, and one of the best intros to any film I've seen. The Gravitron (I think that's what it's called?) really did a wonderful job of summarizing the movie, and the music was perfect as well.I don't have any major beefs with the film, but maybe the beginning was a little rushed, with Candy being sucked into the world of drugs very quickly. But maybe that was the point.
Harsh but great.
posted on 31 Dec 2008Amazing but harsh Candy is 'Trainspotting' meets 'Romeo and Juliet'. Opening with a haunting melody and the two lovers on a fairground ride it feels very picturesque and idealistic, but that doesn't last very long I'm afraid. Mixing poetic voice-overs and montages of the pair involved in each other as the world orbits around them they are so in love and oblivious and addicted. Told in a triptych the first third of the film is called 'heaven' and deals with the honeymoon period of the relationship, the second third is called 'earth' and deals with the start of the end and it doesn't take a genius to work out that the third is called 'hell' and is just that. Candy and Dan are addicted to each other and addicted to heroin. They steal, lie, cheat and wheel and deal, whatever it takes to get the cash they need for the next fix, but when the fixes are few and far between there becomes no limit to how far they will go. Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish are brilliant as the arm spiked lovers who both brood with an intensity that shines out when they are acting being on drugs or the brutal scenes when they are trying to come off them. They are mesmerising to watch and at all times you either hate them for how much they are destroying each other or empathise with them for what they are going through. You can't help but go through the experience with them because it is so graphic and not unlike the needles gets right under your skin. Geoffrey Rush who plays a strange semi-gay drugged up Uncle Monty type character, who not only supplies but manufactures some of the drugs for the pair and even shoots up with them, is very unnerving as the father figure Dan always wanted but never had. Even the later part of the last third, despite its nature, still holds elements of beauty and I would be surprised if there was a dry eye in the house as the film reaches its climax. If you ever wanted a way to show children the evils of drugs then show them this film, it never glorifies the use of substances and if anything it is garishly honest all the way through, although not an easy watch it is an amazing portrayal of the power that addictions, good or bad, can hold and just how far humans are capable of going for love. This really is a journey into the heart of darkness.
Seeking enlightenment about the ending (failing which, it's bogus)
posted on 21 Dec 2008I confess: I don't get the ending of Candy.One minute Dan is out in the alley behind the restaurant he's working in, smoking a cigarette and telling us (via voice-over) how all he's been thinking about was seeing Candy again. Then, like a gift from heaven, she shows up and says "Baby, I'm Yours (again)."Other than some need to have a "life's a bitch and we must all be unhappy" ending, or perhaps because the director had no idea how else to end the movie, why does Dan suddenly opt for: "There's no going back." (i.e., why *not,* Dan? or why not just go *forward* -- with Candy?)I'm sorry if I'm too thick to understand. Someone enlighten me, please.
Depth to rattle you senseless
posted on 25 Nov 2008The film in itself was one that I watched purely out of curiosity. And I am one many levels glad to have seen the film yet am rattled by the almost unimaginable depth and brutality that is showcased here. The film is disturbing and heart-wrenching in the way that it depicts a strong state of realism and highlights topical and often satirized themes.The reasons I was so consumed by the film are for several reasons. The film instantly captures you with its themed sections of de-escalation, starting with a absolutely beautiful and nostalgic scene that contrasts beauty with brutality in Cornish's first of many insightful and clenching scenes. This leads me to the acting: all I can say is Wow. The inexplicable feeling the actors create make me both uncomfortable and shaken, particularly Cornish's extremely talented and dare I say four-dimensional character which has a very balanced unbalance of vulgarity and raw beauty. Her incredible looks do nothing to harbor her electrifying Candy. Ledger as always was not a let down, and portrayed the misguided poet trapped in a self-destructive bubble of blindness down to the T. The end scene in particular captures the millions of dimensions his character contains and the utter believability and emotion Ledger could create within a matter of seconds with one word. Rush as well was incredible, his almost delusional peace balanced well with helplessness. And last but not least, the absolutely incredible imagery of this film and the poetic and eye opening dialog interweaves to create a simply amazing and heart stopping tragic drama studying loneliness, love, and entrapment on levels which I personally have never seen so masterfully created. The nudity and language of the film was used not in a way to depict lustful and dirty intentions, but further emphasize the complex mesh of beautiful and disturbing story telling and further increase the downward fall of the film while all the time clenched and enveloped in the films uncontrollable draw. Disturbing and insanely deep, its sad that such a film is overlooked or shadowed by Hollywood blubber. This is real film making and this is the definition of a masterpiece. Cornish is the rising vibrancy to the film industry, and for Heath, the film is a testament of his unearthly talent and brutal honesty which the world of films and the world over all, will miss with mournful hearts for all time. I feel privileged and changed for seeing this work of art.
This could be a Heath Ledger biopic - it was too real to enjoy!
posted on 11 Nov 2008I was curious to see this movie after Ledger's death in fact I never heard about it before he died. I find it really strange that after all the success of Brokeback Mountain when Heath Ledger was at the zenith of his career that he choose to do this strange movie afterwards. I can't help but feel that he was drawn to it because it somehow portrays a part of his own character - a part that is quite disturbing in view of how he died. Or was it just that he was truly a quite awesome and amazing actor? I am not sure anymore about Heath Ledger. There is no doubt that this is a harrowing story about drug addiction; the only thing that softens it is the fact that both Ledger and Cornish are very beautiful people. There are scenes in this film that are immensely depressing especially the using of the drugs, the cold turkey, the way they choose to live in such squalor, the pointless existence they carve out for each other and the absolute waste of time that drug taking amounts to. The pain that they inflict on themselves and their families is devastating and selfish - why oh why do people chose this way in life? Because of a problem childhood? Sorry, that is a lame excuse - many people can turn a difficult start in life to be the reason for their drive and success. I Think 'Candy' portrays the true selfishness and narcissism of addiction and the lack of being able to face life and its difficulties. Yes, drug addicts are very weak people but the turning point is the selfishness and the inability to see the beauty in life other than through an altered state which is a cheat's way to experience life. 'Candy' does show every aspect of drug addiction from the prostitution to finance the drugs to the still birth of their poor baby. It also shows how a man can use a woman to fund his habit and bring her down to the gutter. The female character can thank the fact that she had a good family behind her. I don't see the character that Ledger played in any romantic sense - he was a loser, a selfish idiot who couldn't grow up and take responsibility - in the end he lost what he loved most and he deserved it. They say that life can imitate art and one cannot help but wonder if it happened in this case in real life too. I feel this is a disturbing film in two ways - firstly it shows Ledger's great talent but it also exposes some kind of weakness in his own persona. It is true to say that Ledger did not look well in this film underneath his good looks at all - something that was quite noticed for a year or two before he died. God bless him and may this film help other's who are on the way to that road, to think twice and thrice and get out of it before it is too late.
Candy
posted on 18 Oct 2008Heath Ledger was a really good young actor, but it was a live-fast-die-young life for him, it was such a shame (and shock) when he was discovered dead (at age 29) from accidental prescribed drug overdose, this (along with I'm Not There and The Dark Knight) was not long before his death, and a good role. Set in Australia, poet Dan (Heath Ledger) falls in love with two kinds of Candy, the woman, art student Candice (Abbie Cornish) and the drug, heroin. Candy in the film becomes an actress, a call girl, a streetwalker and a mad woman (I assume from a nervous breakdown). The film has two halves: Heaven which sees the good relationship between Dan and Candy, with a little tragedy when they have to give up drugs when Candy discovers she's pregnant; and Hell: the relationship breaking and the problems after the miscarriage. Also starring Geoffrey Rush (who I didn't realise was Australian) as Casper, Tony Martin as Jim Wyatt, Noni Hazlehurst as Elaine Wyatt, Tom Budge as Schumann and Roberto Meza-Mont as Jorge. This Australian film can be compared to Trainspotting and Requiem of a Dream (with the realities of drug use), and it is just as believable and watchable as them. Very good!
''Candy'' is superb...
posted on 22 Sep 2008Dan, a striving poet (Heath Ledger), falls in love with a beautiful art student named Candy (Abbie Cornish, a revelation). While they live a wild love story, they find themselves addicted to heroin. With the help (aka drug providing) of Casper (Geoffrey Rush, magnificent), a gay teacher, they realize they don't have any boundaries and that this addiction might put their love story to ruin.Neil Armfield is a name to be watchful for. With ''Candy'', he proves to be a talented director. Switching through various states of the main character, Armfield indirectly introduces ourselves to the world of drugs and through the world of perdition. He also gives us some sparks of Dante Aligheri's ''The Divine Comedy'', as he shows Heaven, Earth, and Hell as the characters go through heroin transformation.One might argue that this is one candy hard to swallow. At times shocking and gut-wrenching, Armfield never puts his guard down and keeps on giving us the full meaning of a life being lost. As the film goes by, Candy and Dan become slaves. Not to each other, but to drugs. Their suffering is shown with perfection, thanks to Armfield's secure direction.The cast is at their best. Abbie Cornish is a grand surprise, and successfully plays Candy to perfection. First, an innocent, beautiful angel. Then, a wasted mistress. Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush are superb as always. However, it is impossible not to add that Ledger is still not perfect as the addicted poet. Perhaps, he didn't have enough time to work with the character, but though he is excellent, he is still lacking.A reminiscent of various drug movies, ''Candy'' is a successful portrait of an aristocratic life turned upside down. Call it ''Trainspotting'' meets ''Romeo + Juliet''. Maybe that will help you get through the hard scenes.---9/10
A touching story
posted on 18 Sep 2008Despite a couple of good reviews, I approached this film with foreboding. Movies about junkies in love, taken from searing autobiographical first novels are usually not what I would call entertaining, though there have been worthy earlier Australian efforts such as "Winter of Our Dreams" (with Judy Davis and Bryan Brown) and "Monkey Grip" (which starred Noni Hazelhurst and Colin Friels). As "Trainspotting" showed it is possible to be light –hearted about drugs and addiction but the storyline here is far from cheering and there is no Hollywood-style happy ending. However it did not turn out as gruesome as I feared it might.This was partly because of two stunning performances by Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish as the not very happy couple, Dan and Candy. Somehow, Heath got it just right as the shambling, disorganized, would-be poet, who is nonetheless capable of pulling off an effective scam when required. Abbie gave us a beautiful, headstrong and dangerous Candy. Their scenes together are as intense and as convincing as you will get in the movies. They were both well supported by Tony Martin and Nonie Hazlehurst as Candy's parents and Geoffrey Rush as their supplier and friend Casper. Geoffrey Rush is a dangerous actor to use in a supporting role because of his ability to steal scenes, but he produces a wonderfully ambiguous character as a counterpoint to the intensity of the leads.Caspar makes an interesting remark about drug usage: "When you're on it you don't want to stop, when you want to stop you can't." Artists have particular trouble since they see drugs as feeding creativity. Even so, some people break the habit. I hate to use the term "self–discipline" but that and the support of those close to you seem to be crucial factors. Being in love with another addict does not seem to be a great help, for obvious reasons. The Thought Police will be pleased that drug-taking is not glamourised and Dan and Candy's experiences are a mite painful, but the movie does not take a judgmental stance. If we had to have another movie about junkies in love, this is the one.
The Bittersweet Taste of Love and Addiction
posted on 19 Aug 2008I watched the movie "Candy" because the description on back of the DVD made me think it might have something significant to say about how poets manage to cultivate their creative gifts in the face of the world's harsh and often unforgiving realities. It was actually more about fueling delusions of escape from those realities through drug addiction and placing more burdens on love than it can sometimes bear.At the center of this brilliantly artful and emotionally powerful drama are the young hopeful artist named Candy and the would-be poet Dan. Both are emotionally damaged individuals who lead each other through a nightmare maze of drug addiction into a junkie's hell of destitution, prostitution, theft, and death.The film, based on Luke Davies' novel, does raise some important questions about how much we can or should expect from an individual's capacity for love. The subject is one more and more artists seem to be examining these days. Creative acts of poetry--such as actually writing, performing spoken word, being inspired, etc.--do not make up the core of this extraordinary film. BUT: the soul-numbing angst suffered by the principle characters does build to one dynamic slam of a poem that makes real artistic and spiritual sense out of Candy's and Dan's horrible personal ordeal.Actress Abbie Cornish absolutely astounds in her portrayal of the title character. The exceptionally gifted Heath Ledger provides yet another off-the-chain performance that demonstrates why he's destined to eventually win the Academy Award that eluded him for "Brokeback Mountain." Other ensemble members, including the phenomenal Oscar-winning Geoffrey Rush, Noni Hazlehurst, and Tony Martin, are never anything less than perfect in their supporting roles.by Aberjhani, author of "I Made My Boy Out of Poetry"
Ledger's finest performance
posted on 12 Aug 2009Downbeat and depressing it may be and made all the more poignant for Heath ledger's performance as a junkie but there is no denying that this screen version of Luke Davies' novel does work. It is very well directed by Niel Armfield, who co-wrote it with Davies. He captures the monotony as well as the sordidness and the sheer horror of a junkie's life-style and the performances are superb.Ledger is phenomenally good as an addict who would sell his soul, (though is more squeamish about selling his body), for his next fix; it's a totally unexpected performance and it is easily his best. He is matched by Abbie Cornish in the title role, the girl he drags to hell with him. As their seemingly benign, homosexual and ostensibly respectable dealer Geoffrey Rush gives a beautifully understated performance and there are two splendid cameo's from Tony Martin and Noni Hazelhurst as Candy's parents.It is certainly not an easy film to watch; there isn't an ounce of sentimentality in it but it is very powerful and ultimately very moving. You come away from it with a real sense of loss at Ledger's early and tragic demise, ironically, from an accidental drugs overdose.