"Candy": An Australian story of junkie romance
Few movie genres suggest less promise than Young Junkies in Love. The path from drug-induced euphoria to cold turkey to methadone has become depressingly familiar.
Still, there's some bite and lyricism to the new Australian film "Candy" — which is not to be confused with Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg's naughty 1960s novel of the same name. The script, written by director Neil Armfield and Luke Davies (based on Davies' 1997 book), follows a doomed, deluded couple as they resort to prostitution and theft to support their habits.
Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish bring surprising grace and vulnerability to the roles of Dan and Candy, who marry and plan to have children while they're shooting up — with predictably dire results. They talk about living on sunlight and chocolate bars, and claim that "everything we ever did, we did with the best of intentions." Geoffrey Rush provides plenty of welcome gallows humor as their decadent enabler, Casper, and the other supporting roles are just as carefully cast.
The movie begins and ends with a gravity-defying carnival ride, which turns out to be an apt (if obvious) metaphor for their dizzying misadventures. Dan is a would-be poet whose parents have disowned him. Candy is a painter whose control-freak mother (Noni Hazlehurst) has encouraged a clenched-fists approach to life, especially in the kitchen where she rules.
Candy's father (Tony Martin) is a less judgmental, more ambiguous figure, suspicious of Dan but willing to go along with this apparently unemployable young man as long as he demonstrates that he loves Candy. The family scenes, in which the parents can only register their helplessness while hoping for the best, are heartbreaking.
This is partly due to Cornish's ability to suggest a stranded soul slipping into madness. Candy becomes unhinged whenever she's around her mother, and Cornish deftly zeroes in on the reasons why these two people should not share the same space. Shamelessly wasted in her international film debut as Russell Crowe's cousin in "A Good Year," she demonstrates considerable range and talent here.
While Dan provides the point of view, and Ledger finds unexpected reserves of passion in the role, the movie gradually becomes her story. In the end, "Candy" cannot escape predictability, but its creators mostly succeed in rescuing it from tedium.
John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com
"Candy," with Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush. Directed by Neil Armfield, from a screenplay by Armfield and Luke Davies, based on a novel by Davies. 108 minutes. Rated R for language, sexual content, drug use. Varsity.