Candy: Drugs and a broken relationship

In most cultures, drugs are looked upon as being morally wrong. Through popular culture it is evident that civilised and well respected people are not associated with drug users who are seen in the light of being rundown and hopeless. The effects of drugs have been chronicled in a few films by showing hard-hitting consequences due to drug consumption. One of the few that took up the topic was the 2006 film Candy which starred Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish.

Dan and Candy are deeply in love. Dan is a poet and Candy is an artist but neither has produced any work for an extended period of time because of their addiction to heroin. From the beginning it is evident that Dan is a user and initiates Candy into drug use which becomes the base of their relationship. They do whatever is required to gain hold of enough money to buy heroin just so they can have their regular fix. As time progresses their addiction grows stronger and borrowing money does not cut it; soon they resort to stealing which later gives way to prostitution. They realise they have spiralled out of control and try quitting to no avail. In the hope of leaving their past behind them and starting a new life, they move to the country side and try leaving the world of drugs behind. But their past life and dependence on drugs catches up to them when Candy’s parents come to visit for a Sunday lunch. Dan realises that he brought Candy into this mess and watches helplessly in the hope that they can finally change their life.

Candy was the feature film debut for Neil Armfield in the directorial role. Apart from his directorial contribution, Armfield also wrote the screenplay for the film which was adapted from a novel by Luke Davies titled Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction. There aren’t too many standout points in terms of direction which is simple and realistic. One of the most important scenes in the film is when Dan and Candy isolate themselves after moving to a countryside bungalow in the hope of permanently quitting drugs. This scene was both shot and directed well as a continuous overhead shot was maintained over a three day time lapse in the film which depicted the pain the characters were undergoing at the time. The performances of the lead actors were quite good through most of the film as well. They were able to get into the skin of the character to display the emotion and physical agony which would be expected from someone who is detoxing from drugs.

The highlight of the film comes in the breakdown of the story. Most of the story is told from the perspective of the protagonist Dan who even narrates a few scenes. After the establishment of the relationship between the two lead characters, the plot is broken down into three main segments which is the course of their relationship and drug addiction. The three segments of the film are Heaven, Earth and Hell. In the segment called Heaven, the lives of the protagonists are comfortable. They are able to fend for themselves by borrowing and stealing money to take care of their drug addiction which is at a level of elation since they have plenty of drugs to manage their cravings. In the segment called Earth, they are faced with problems that an adult couple would normally face. They have stronger cravings for heroin and not enough money to satiate themselves which leads to the need for prostitution. The lack of money sees them losing their house and strains develop in their relationship. In the segment titled Hell, they find each other’s company and habits to be annoying. They are not able to stay at peace with their relatives and friends and find the need to ignore them for extended periods of time. Their drug problems are escalated here since they are attempting to give it up forever and find violent physical manifestations developing during their detox period.

The film has a stronger human angle than most other drug related movies. It shows real problems and human interactions which are caused due to drug problems. It proves that storytelling does not require shock value in order to be effective.

Seven Psychopaths: A story about seven psychopaths in a story

One of the best forms of humour is deadpan. Deadpan is the ability to keep a straight face when making fun of a person or a situation. It involves a huge amount of self control not to laugh when making a joke and is mostly seen on stage, performed by a few good stand-up comics. When it comes to film, deadpan requires a really good actor to be able to bring about the humour to make his audience laugh while acting out the scene with a certain level of seriousness. It can be extremely difficult to achieve if the right actor and the right direction are not in place.

Marty is a writer who lacks inspiration to finish off his masterpiece – a screenplay for a film called Seven Psychopaths. He lives with his girlfriend Kaya who is supportive but has grown tired of his procrastination, his drinking habit and his deadbeat friend Billy. A struggling actor, Billy works with an elderly man named Hans to kidnap dogs in Los Angeles and return them to their owners for a cash prize. Billy is also aiding Marty finish his screenplay and suggests he use inspiration from real life after reading newspaper reports on the Jack of Diamonds killer in the area. On one of their routine kidnappings, Billy and Hans pick up a Shih Tzu unaware that it belongs to Charlie Costello, a gangster who is known for being unpredictable and terribly violent towards his victims. Charlie has an unnatural affinity towards his dog and starts a bloody trail to find it. Marty is confronted by Charlie and warned to return the dog or face his death. When Marty reveals this to Billy, they set up for a final showdown where it’s kill or be killed.

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths is about a story running within the main story of the film. There is a certain ambiguity in the plot especially with the constant discussion of a screenplay that the protagonist is writing. The story-in-story concept doesn’t quite work for the film as it complicates the plot and confuses the audience. The protagonist writing a story which interjects with his personal life and comes from his written work into his real life leaves a few questions about the coincidental situations he faces; an example would be where Marty writes a story about a Quaker who slits his throat which presents itself in the form of his best friend’s associate. The seven psychopaths in the film are not who they seem to be. The psychopaths would presumably be from the screenplay that Marty is writing but here again they exist both in his literary work as well as his real life.

While Colin Farrell plays the lead role and provides a level-headed personality to his character, he ends up being a balance as opposed to Sam Rockwell’s portrayal of the zany accomplice who creates more problems than he solves. Christopher Walken is entrusted with providing the deadpan humour that he is capable of and it does come across in the film at times, but the sensitive side of his character takes away from the humour and makes the line between seriousness and deadpan difficult to comprehend. Woody Harrelson as the antagonist does a decent job as a hard man with a sensitive side of his own but struggles with bringing the comedy to the film.

The humour doesn’t come across in the film perfectly. There are instances when it does play well as a comedy but not at all times.