Candy (2005)

Featured Audience Ratings

• EightThirty .

  
  17/07/2010 (TELEVISION) A pretty emotional flick. This film took me downhill with them and I couldn't stand the hopelessness. It's a terrific drama and I love these ones that are able to extract your feelings. I felt this was also educational in a way because now… More
  17/07/2010 (TELEVISION) A pretty emotional flick. This film took me downhill with them and I couldn't stand the hopelessness. It's a terrific drama and I love these ones that are able to extract your feelings. I felt this was also educational in a way because now I'm aware of the impact that drugs can have.

• Josh L

  
  It's no Requiem for a Dream, but it's an effective viewing of the price you pay when addicted to drugs. It has good performances too. After watching this and Requiem in a short period of time, I don't think I can possibly even imagine doing drugs in any form. These… More
  It's no Requiem for a Dream, but it's an effective viewing of the price you pay when addicted to drugs. It has good performances too. After watching this and Requiem in a short period of time, I don't think I can possibly even imagine doing drugs in any form. These films have done their job.

• Elvira B

  
  Candy is a poetic yet very raw and no-nonsense portrait of drug addiction, as lived by Daniel and Candace. Both are very much in love with each other and carry idealistic existences in which drugs play a very central role. As is to be expected, everything is gold-showered an… More
  Candy is a poetic yet very raw and no-nonsense portrait of drug addiction, as lived by Daniel and Candace. Both are very much in love with each other and carry idealistic existences in which drugs play a very central role. As is to be expected, everything is gold-showered an sugar-coated and whatnot during the first months of their relationship: they have money, they love each other, and since they haven't tried to stop using they don't see how difficult it will be. As Candy and Daniel start settling down and spending more time with each other and atempting to build a life, their addiction starts looking like a problem that will make them humilliate themselves for money, and humilliate each other when the pain is so big that they just have to take it out on the other. The chemistry between Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish is reason #1 so watch this film. Together they are intoxicating, epic, and yet beleivable. Individually, the performances are powerful and heatbreaking: Candy's transformtion from a sweet idealist who dabbles in drugs for fun to an angry addict whose hate towards the world surfaces when she is out of money is chilling. Heath Ledger's character might be less aggressive, but even when he is at his most subdued Ledger manages to communicate his state of mind to us. He adores Candy more than drugs, and that is a lot to say, but he's absolutely hopeless at anything else. The story itself is nothing new- the message has already been spoken both by Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream: drugs are fun in the beginning but then awful things start to happen. But Candy brings that universal problem to a very small and intimate scale, in which drug addiction has the same effect on a loving relationship as would an bomb if it fell on their house. Candy doesn't glamorize drug use, yet it doesn't use any tricks to make it more dramatic, but it often makes use of poetry voice-overs and melancholy, hazy cinematography to create an atmosphere that is between hallucination and reality. The film succeeds at making people care, hate, worry, pity Candy and Daniel, and that is mainly because of the excellent lead performances. Any fan of Heath Ledger should watch Candy, as should anyone who wants to watch a good performance-driven film.

• Chris G

  
  Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish star as two twentysomething heroine addicts in Australian director Neil Armfield's Candy, the story of how drugs affect the couple love and lives. Cornish plays the title character who has fallen for the poet Dan and also proceeds to fall into the… More
  Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish star as two twentysomething heroine addicts in Australian director Neil Armfield's Candy, the story of how drugs affect the couple love and lives. Cornish plays the title character who has fallen for the poet Dan and also proceeds to fall into the drug induced haze that Dan has slipped into. Ledger is amazing as Dan, the drug addict who doesn't know how to do anything except write poems and score smack. Geoffrey Rush also graces us once again playing Dan's father figure Casper, a drug creating organic chemist who looks after the pair in a weird way. Candy gracefully tells the story of how this pair fell in and out of love with eachother and how drugs were always the underlying theme throughout their relationship. They seem unable to function without the fix almost as if heroine is the glue that holds them together. A depressing view, yet not to the point of being preachy. This film would probably work better than many of the Just Say No ads that have ran for the last 20 years. Begging, mooching, stealing, and hooking are all ways of life for the pair as they go through their young lives in a daze. A sad, thought provoking look that deserves some attention.

• Bobby H

  
  This movie was great. It's one of the closest movies to reality that I have seen in a long time. A couple tries to rationalize there relationship and love for each other around the love of heroin. It's hard to watch at times because it can really get you thinking about… More
  This movie was great. It's one of the closest movies to reality that I have seen in a long time. A couple tries to rationalize there relationship and love for each other around the love of heroin. It's hard to watch at times because it can really get you thinking about lifes realities but makes for a great movie. The only bad part about this movie I found is the ending - it's virtually not there? I have not read the book but did the author forget to write an ending chapter or something! It pretty much stops mid movie leaving you with more questions about the outcome then answers. I found it slightly annoying but the rest of the movie was so good that it still deserves a top notch rating.

• Eric S

  
  Brilliant film that I couldn't take my eyes and ears away from. Heath Ledger turns in yet another brilliant performance as the occasional poet yet constant heroine addict Dan, as well as Abbie Cornish's mesmerizing portrayal of the lost artist, Candy. Powerful film that… More
  Brilliant film that I couldn't take my eyes and ears away from. Heath Ledger turns in yet another brilliant performance as the occasional poet yet constant heroine addict Dan, as well as Abbie Cornish's mesmerizing portrayal of the lost artist, Candy. Powerful film that really packs a punch in a rain of sorrow.

• Gordon A

  
  Well played but well trodden path through the ups and downs of drug addiction. Cornish and Ledger work well together but I wish talented theps would give up proving their range on tired stories like this.

• Julie B

  
  God that was depressing. Great acting, though.

• William D

  
  [size=3]"Candy" has special qualities. It is filmed beautifully by director [b]Neil Armfield[/b], and it has two very special actors, [b]Heath Ledger[/b] and [b]Abbie Cornish[/b]. [/size] [img]http://www.salzburger-fenster.at/dbgfx/artikel/4723_1_filmtipp_02.jpg[/img]… More
  [size=3]"Candy" has special qualities. It is filmed beautifully by director [b]Neil Armfield[/b], and it has two very special actors, [b]Heath Ledger[/b] and [b]Abbie Cornish[/b]. [/size] [img]http://www.salzburger-fenster.at/dbgfx/artikel/4723_1_filmtipp_02.jpg[/img] [size=3]Ledger is of course now a household name, due to his titanic performance in "Brokeback Mountain." Cornish is probably not too far behind. She reeks of star quality as well as serious artistry. The film also has the always engaging and entertaining [b]Geoffrey Rush[/b] in a supporting role. [/size][size=3]But the story is just too simple. There's so little going on. We meet a young, beautiful, artistic couple with a very profound connection -- they seem to see only each other in the universe. The film very successfully conveys the intensity of this bond.[/size] [size=3]But all we watch them do is shoot heroin and then struggle to get money to do it again. It's hard for me to believe that there still are talented filmmakers who think heroin addiction is interesting. I suppose there are interesting things still left to say about it, but this film doesn't say anything at all about it. It just depicts it, as if watching people do it still is intriguing. [/size] [size=3]Along with the requisite needle scenes, we have the obligatory eyes-rolling-back-in-the-head scenes, with of course the swelling of music. Then we have the scenes where the junkie degrades him or herself by doing sexual favors to get drug money. And how could we forget the vomiting, trembling, and sweating sequences when the junkie tries to go off the stuff. It's all here![/size] [size=3]For a talented director and actors to end up producing such unbelievably hackneyed material as if it's not been seen a billion times already is really befuddling to me. [/size] [img]http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/061114/061114_candy_vmed_4p.widec.jpg[/img] [size=3]There is one scene towards the end that I found gripping. The female character is descending into some sort of nervous breakdown. One of the last things she does is take all her lipstick and nail polish and absolutely cover the interior of her home with poems written on the walls. Every inch of wallspace is covered with handwriting. Part of what she wrote is read in voice-over, and it's superb poetry. Too bad moments like these were so few and far between.[/size]

• Luke B

  
  Another look at the emotinal destruction caused by drugs. Very similar to Requiem for A Dream, however manages not to emulate it by generally keeping the tone more subtle. It's never preachy and the performances are incredible. This film also highlights where once the drugs were… More
  Another look at the emotinal destruction caused by drugs. Very similar to Requiem for A Dream, however manages not to emulate it by generally keeping the tone more subtle. It's never preachy and the performances are incredible. This film also highlights where once the drugs were just something the couple did, they are soon controlled and defined by the drugs until their personalities are just a memory.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Candy" is an unflinching view of drug addiction with performances to match. At the beginning of the movie, Candy(Abbie Cornish) is snorting heroin but joins her boyfriend, Daniel(Heath Ledger), in injecting it which results in her nearly overdosing in a… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Candy" is an unflinching view of drug addiction with performances to match. At the beginning of the movie, Candy(Abbie Cornish) is snorting heroin but joins her boyfriend, Daniel(Heath Ledger), in injecting it which results in her nearly overdosing in a bathtub. Soon, the two are petty criminals and selling everything that is not nailed down to finance their addictions. And eventually Candy is selling her own body but not Daniel because he is not that kind of guy. In the midst of this, they even manage to get married but the selfish need for drugs strains the marriage's dynamic.(Or is it the other way around?) It is not the drugs themselves that ruin a person's life; it is the accompanying wait, anxiety and fundraising for the short-term high when a regular job is not an option. Once painting was Candy's passion, now it is drugs.(But I think William Burroughs said that some drugs help with the creative process.)[/font] [font=Century Gothic]See how easy it is to get distracted? And I am convinced that if we stopped obsessing about the person talking too loud on their cell phone this morning, then we could concentrate on important things like world hunger and possible human colonies on Mars. [/font]

• Daniel P

  
  <i>"Candy went missing."</i> <p>A stunning, believable and astonishingly acted film detailing the relationship between Dan, a struggling poet and Candy, an aspiring artist, and their heroin dependency. This is truly one of the most affecting and intense… More
  <i>"Candy went missing."</i> <p>A stunning, believable and astonishingly acted film detailing the relationship between Dan, a struggling poet and Candy, an aspiring artist, and their heroin dependency. This is truly one of the most affecting and intense films I have ever seen. Economic in the very best sense, this goes to show what a skilful, small crew can do on a meagre budget with two incredibly talented actors - Abbie Cornish and the much missed Heath Ledger. There seems to be no artifice here at all, no hint of study or rehearsal. It's painful to watch as, all too easily, Candy and Dan turn to prostitution, petty theft and fraud in order to maintain their addiction, and even harder when they try and go 'cold turkey' and it seems like they are going to succeed. The film hints at deeper psychological reasons behind their motives for turning to heroin - a standout moment occurs when Candy's mother asks Dan what happened to her <i>"beautiful little girl"</i>, and Candy replies: <p><i>"What happened? What happened? Can't you see? Don't you understand? I have been clenching my fucking fists since I was six years old! Look at my fucking fists, look at them! Look at them you fucking bitch! Don't you understand?!"</i> <p>Powerful and beautiful, and not to be missed.

• Yinalí R

  
  Very good movie about what drugs can do to your life...Deep and sentimental movie, I liked it very much.

• Eduardo C

  
  Unimpressive in every single way.

• Alice S

  
  The story is dragging but filled with some sort of poetry: being young and having nothing but time and something that some would call love... but is it really? Add the drug addiction and you'll get the picture. The spirit is wandering in a sweet laziness, close to the artistic… More
  The story is dragging but filled with some sort of poetry: being young and having nothing but time and something that some would call love... but is it really? Add the drug addiction and you'll get the picture. The spirit is wandering in a sweet laziness, close to the artistic inspiration, yet the muses are staying away, probably driven by small, everyday problems, like finding money and drugs.

• m h

  
  I thought it was fabulous acting on both Heath and Abbie's part. Very believable. It goes to show you, that drugs can be very powerful and take over your life. Even though heroin had come between them, they still loved each other through lots of tough times. Especially the baby,… More
  I thought it was fabulous acting on both Heath and Abbie's part. Very believable. It goes to show you, that drugs can be very powerful and take over your life. Even though heroin had come between them, they still loved each other through lots of tough times. Especially the baby, which they tried to come of drugs for its sake, even though the withdrawl was making them sick. Very good.

• Daisy M

  
  Candy....oh Candy, this film is so emotional and they potrait the life of 2 junkies played by Ledger and Cornish, very good film, and so deep sad also, but the end for me was kinda confusing, but after the comment of the best movie critic, I understood the end, good movie, also worthy… More
  Candy....oh Candy, this film is so emotional and they potrait the life of 2 junkies played by Ledger and Cornish, very good film, and so deep sad also, but the end for me was kinda confusing, but after the comment of the best movie critic, I understood the end, good movie, also worthy to see, and to have for collection, so strange to see Heath Ledger, knowing he is not alive anymore, but he was a great actor..

• Stefan P

  
  I have seen two excellent and gripping movies focusing on drug addiction - Trainspotting and Requiem for a dream. Candy made a very strong impression because of it's tragic story. Beautifully shot and with great performances.

• Miriam K

  
  A little too depressing for my taste. . . WAS well acted though.

• Sarah P

  
  A great performance by Heath Ledger. I liked how the film progressed: heaven, earth, then hell. Overall, it was pretty good.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings