Saw Hard Candy. Ellen Page stars as a very young girl who turns the tables on a pedophile who was hunting her. It's a fairly fun watch. It's essentially a protracted psychodrama, the guy playing cat-n-mouse with her but then (whah-ho!) the hunter becomes the hunted. There's times it veers into stagy proclamations and pat pop-psychology, the former from the increasingly desperate man, the latter from the always-supreme Page. On that note actually, to enjoy this film you essentially have to accept that Page not only symbolises but is the spirit of vengeance. She's more competent and capable than most adults I know.
The film is tremendous fun though. It's an evil-hearted crowd-pleaser, catering to the ugly animal instinct we share to dream up brass bulls and iron maidens. Perhaps a less morally bankrupt person would find it challenging and frankly it is rattling. I was always rooting for Page, even after was abundantly clear that she was keeping the upper hand. I kept wondering if there was going to be a sympathy switcheroo, the film suddenly focussing on the pathetic struggles of the man, but that never happened as far as I could tell. This is essentially a revenge flick. We may feel good for a while, but of course revenge solves nothing.
A guilty pleasure of a film. It's only guilty in retrospect and is very fun while it lasts.
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