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Wed, Jul 31 at 8:00pm

HARD CANDY (35mm)

  • Dir. David Slade
  • USA
  • 2005
  • 104 min.
  • R
  • 35mm
  • Assistive Listening
  • Hearing Loop
HARD CANDY (35mm)

Part of Queer Qlassics

Wed, Jul 31 at 8:00pm: Post-screening discussion with Jenn Adams, writer and co-host of The Lady Killers: A Feminine Rage Podcast, and Dr. Aimi Hamraie, Associate Professor of Medicine, Health, & Society and American Studies at Vanderbilt University | BUY TICKETS

Fourteen-year-old Hayley Stark (Elliot Page) meets 32-year-old groomer (and photographer) Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Wilson) in an online chatroom. After explicit exchanges, Hayley meets Jeff in person, which leads to Jeff inviting Hayley to his home for a private fashion shoot. After Jeff begins to ply the teen with alcohol, Hayley turns the tables on her predator, enacting a duplicitous, feminist revenge plot.

“In HARD CANDY, the only person we see suffer is a privileged professional white man.” —Rebecca Stringer, Feminism at the Movies

“Despite the postfeminist prohibitions on female violence, it is noticeable that [HARD CANDY] explore[s] the rebellion and containment of teenage girls.” —Frances Smith, Rethinking the Hollywood Teen Movie

“A spectacular performance by [Elliot] Page elevates this disturbing slice of designer shocksploitation into a film that's impossible to dismiss on principle.” —Todd McCarthy, Variety