Candy
With Lords of Dogtown, Brokeback Mountain and now Candy Heath Ledger has shown he is currently one of the best actors going around making interesting and challenging career choices. He just keeps getting better and better with every role he takes on, and his performance in Candy, a tale of two junkies in love with each other as much as they are with their heroin, is no exception. I know it’s only early days for Abby Cornish, but it doesn’t seem like she’s quite able to keep up with him. Sure, she’s so cute and perfect as Candy at the film’s start when things are more optimistic and heroin seems like a party rather than a disease to the characters, but she struggles to convey the appropriate sense of desperation as the film progresses and their addiction begins to strangle and separate them.
Unfortunately as realistic as this film may be in exploring the romance junkies have with heroin, and the drugs destructive impact on their romance, if you’ve seen any film on addiction you’ve seen this all before, and may be surprised at how tame things stay as the characters inevitably spiral downwards. Brilliant films on the same subject, such as Leaving Las Vegas and Requiem for a Dream show Candy as lacking some real emotional strength and devastating impact, despite another captivating Ledger performance.