By PHIL VILLARREAL
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Too much of a good thing isn't much fun. And too much of a bad thing that feels like a good thing for a while _ even though you and everyone around you know it's actually a bad thing _ can be deadly.
Heroin is the bad thing explored in the teeth-gnashing Australian drama "Candy."
The film tells the grim tale of a couple lost in chemical dependency. The next fix matters more than working, eating or even living to score another day.
To keep the brief rushes of euphoria coming, the addicts prostitute themselves and steal from others and each other.
Adapted from the Luke Davies novel "Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction," director Neil Armfield's drama stars Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish as Dan and Candy. The syringe-crossed lovers waste their lives away in three segments, titled "Heaven," "Earth" and "Hell."
These two are soulmates in a tragic sense, and end up as each other's worst enemy whenever they try to pull away from the gravitational force of their habits. The film observes them in a pattern of working maddeningly to score, exalting in the ecstasy of getting high, then bottoming out as they try to piece together plans to start the process over again. After each cycle, they become more and more desperate.
For every 10 years you spend as a junkie, Dan says, you spend seven waiting around for your dealer to show up.
"Candy" is articulate and frighteningly insightful for the way it exposes the tiny thrills and frustrations of living a life of addiction. The supply always seems to run out at the least opportune time.
The lovers are often on the move because they waste their rent money on drugs, so spotting reliable dealers is always an ordeal. Occasionally, Candy will sell herself for $50 she'll use to buy heroin, only to receive bogus merchandise.
The acting in "Candy" is fevered but not quite as authentic as the writing seems to be. Ledger and Cornish both hurl themselves into their roles, although neither of the two looks frail or fried enough to pass off as a truly believable junkie.
Films about self-destructive addicts have been done to death since "The Lost Weekend" (1945), and only about one or two films a decade come along to truly revitalize the genre. "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.
3 stars out of 4
Rated: R for pervasive depiction of drug addiction, disturbing images, language, sexual content and nudity.
Family call: Not for kids.
Running time: 108 minutes.
(Read Phil Villarreal's blog at scrippsnews.com/philmguy and contact him at pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)
