Hard Candy

Ellen Page will fuck you up in Hard Candy. And, she might even make you hard. This is not the same girl who got knocked up in Juno and who never--to the praise of conservatives everywhere--seriously considered having an abortion. Yes, in Juno, Page was ballsy and outspoken in a snarky, ultimately appealing way. However, Hard Candy is the Ellen Page before she got it on with uber wimp, Bleeker.

Let me tell you, this is totally the Page I prefer--muscle-y with a butch dyke haircut. She really doesn't look frail and little here, as she does in her other movies. Her bravado adds five inches to her height and twenty pounds to her frame. Easily. Hard Candy is a vehicle for Page at her best. She plays the changeling, and I'll only say a little more about plot because the movie is better if you don't know too much about the story line.

Hard Candy starts out with Page meeting a lover or a friend or someone she's clearly only met virtually and not in person. The hunky, older man ends up taking Page home, and it's evident that he is attempting to get her drunk with the intent to get her into bed. (And, homeboys, for all of you who do not know, that is called rape. Any time you have sex with someone who is intoxicated--even if you are, too--that act can be construed as rape.) So, he fills her drinks and plays loud music. Then, the turn comes. So, no more talking about the plot. Instead, I'll talk about the tone.

Page sets the tone in that she (and, by extension, the movie) is methodical and plotting. There's no sex, per se, but the sexual organs are definitely involved. Well, less than involved; they're more like innocent bystanders who may not be so innocent after all. Think of Page as the ultimate master in sadomasochism. She's sexy as the dominant one, and her total commitment to the sexual games may get you off as the watcher. Don't be alarmed; we're all freaks at heart. It's just that in the sex games the characters play, there is no safe word.