Beauty & Horror

[dotinthesky]

Bound for Glory, dir. Hal Ashby, 1976
I'm slowly making my way through Hal Ashby's filmography, shaking my head and wondering what could have been if this genius had lived a little longer. This film is based on the protest singer Woody Guthrie's autobiography. It shows his life in middle America before he was known, his struggle to reach California, his early musical career, his support of the workers and the unions (a commie bastard in many people's eyes.) Some scenes of migrant workers arriving in California, and the treatment they received, are very reminiscent of the arrival of jews at concentration camps. Scenes of Woody playing music with his friends, of young women strumming their guitars in the migrant worker camps, catch the viewer by surprise with their simple beauty. Ashby told stories that he cared about, about people who were unique and otherworldly. Although this film lacks a strong plotline, it's never boring; and some scenes, especially the ones involving music, are gorgeous.

Hard Candy, dir. David Slade, 2005
Torture porn leaves me cold. This film could have been so much more - an updated "Fatal Attraction" or "Misery" - but it feels more often like a play adapted to the screen with a badly-disguised agenda to polarise the viewer. There's a pivotal scene that will have all male viewers squirming in their seats - everything else is padding and chatting about events that happened off screen. The actors do a somewhat good job (it's nice to see Ellen Page in her pre-anorexic stage) but the plot twists are not always unsurprising or exciting. I found it more interesting that the pedophile met the 14-year-old girl in a coffee shop where the male barrista didn't even blink an eye at them. This element of male collusion could have been explored further, for added controversy.

Comments

[olamina.livejournal.com]

I thought Hard Candy was boring and self-indulgent and a totally wasted opportunity. Yawn yawn.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

OMG! I totally didn't connect that the girl in Hard Candy is the girl in Juno!

I really didn't like her acting, it was...acting? I was annoyed by it, but it got better as it went along. Actually, I felt that way about the acting in Juno, too.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I think she did a better job in Hard Candy than in Juno. Everything about Juno was self-aware and slightly stilted. Also, I felt uncomfortable with how anorexic she looked, so it was hard for me to be sucked into the story.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Hm, that's strange, I'm usually hyper aware of that type of thing but didn't notice that she looked overly thin.

And Diablo Cody is making another movie. The kid who played Paulie is in another movie coming out soon. It looks cute.

[doraphilia.livejournal.com]

I hated Hard Candy, for much of the reasons you describe.

ALWAYS LONG

[ex-louter.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. I liked the latter (obviously) for the sole reason that two people pretty much carried the film (kind of but not really why I so enjoyed The History Boys which actually was a play adapted to screen, so...). I've got a terrible attention span, but watched it all in one sitting which is pretty good; my mind wanders often. Oh and because I felt for the pedophile. Was I supposed to? I don't know! But I did. Girl was crazy.

alsobecauseIamimmature watching that scene with my father was hilarious.
AND the movie inspired this (http://wear-red.com/); I am so detached. The film, though I liked it, did not make me want to join a cause. It feels ~extreme~ or maybe I'm just an apathetic individual.

Re: ALWAYS LONG

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I thought their acting was good - they did a good job - but something about the script was lacking for me. I couldn't really sympathise with him or her, and in the end I was sort of "meh" about whatever happened to each one of them. That's kinda ironic that they took her red outfit and added it to a cause when she wears it in the film exactly because of its connotations to Red Riding Hood!

Thank you anyway for the recommendation; it was an interesting film!

[phyrephly.livejournal.com]

I find Ellen Page unbearable to watch. I didn't know she didn't used to be as skinny, but I did think it was odd how often I noted how thin she was. I guess it's because it didn't look natural.

[phyrephly.livejournal.com]

Also, I'm not going to watch Hard Candy because I usually am filled with rage for some reason whenever anyone tries to comment on pedophilia. For example, this blog post: http://lorenrosson.blogspot.com/2006/11/pedophilia-and-ephebophilia.html

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Hard Candy tries to see itself as about pedophilia but it's really about revenge and castration fantasies. That issue of ephebophilia (which I'd never heard of before until now!) doesn't come into it. Also, there's an element of murder mystery, to do with stuff that might have happened before the story begins. It might be worthwhile watching just so you can have to rage against, or to perhaps give you new avenues of thought.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

She's also quite skinny in Hard Candy, but not as uncomfortably as how she appears in Juno.

[sallypointzero.livejournal.com]

I watched Hard Candy online, streaming from director's kid's very own iTorrent last year. The thing I kept noticing was absence of sympathy-partial then total- for the girl victim.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I had no sympathy for any of the characters. The only time the film engaged me was during the operation scene, for obvious reasons (how can a male viewer not react to that?!)

[sallypointzero.livejournal.com]

I could engage with that too!--like if you saw an elephant geting its trunk cut off you'd still be able to think "Oooh, sore!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

True. I suppose any type of horrifying surgical procedure - whether on human or animal - will affect the audience. We all understand pain (or at least almost all of us).

[stormecho.livejournal.com]

Hard Candy was in the $5 DVD bin at Walmart this weekend. I passed on it. A bit too disturbing, though I'd've done different things to Patrick Wilson.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

How come you know Patrick? What else has he been in (that you can recommend?)

[stormecho.livejournal.com]

He's a Broadway voice. I have him on several CD's.
Besides his role in Phantom Of The Opera, I'm not really up to date on his movies.