Swapan Seth

Hard Candy is much like Derailed. It sends a shiver down your spine. It is about how a 14-year-old girl gets in touch with a 32-year paedophile in a chat room on the Internet. They meet at a bar and then decide to go over to his place. The plot till then is rather predictable.

The trouble starts soon thereafter. And the tables turn. Through a brutal interrogation, the girl extracts information about the guy’s past and finally after an agonising time, castrates him so that he can never mess around with young girls any more.

The film is very stylishly shot but it’s the Canadian, Ellen Page’s performance that steals the show. Her innocent look is compellingly contrasted with her steely determination. The man, played by Patrick Wilson does great justice to the role. Hard Candy is a dark film on a subject that is of critical concern given the freedom that the Internet has handed over to teenagers. A must watch.

While there is a huge load of management drivel that is being published, I look out for two blokes primarily: Jim Collins and John Naisbitt. Now, I do know that a lot of people have their own take on Naisbitt, but I think he’s bright as a button.

And a student that I still am, I like receiving little instructions such as: “Don’t walk so far ahead that people think you are out of the parade”. Even “don’t add unless you subtract”. Or consider this: “Understand how powerful it is not to have to be right”.

I mean which CEO can actually live with the last instruction. As the book Mind Set suggests, Naisbitt hands out 11 little instructions that are actually mindsets. Understandably, some are a tad trite — “it’s a visual world”.

There is also an irritating yet expected chapter devoted to China. I think the BRIC boys should be shot. Ever since that damn report came out of Goldman Sachs, the world is having a collective Cantonese orgasm. Naisbitt’s earlier book Megatrends 2000 was riveting. This one is equally charming. Some of the examples are a bit iffy, but then the name is John Naisbitt. Not God, for heaven’s sake!

Peter Mayle has hit a home run with his charming book called A Good Year. It is a must read. Then the terrifically talented Mr. Ridley Scott made a marvellous film out of it with Russell Crowe. In fact, if you can, drop this damn review and get into a multiplex that’s showing the film in Calcutta. Post that, listen to the soundtrack of this film. It is quite simply awesome.

Since for the most part, the film is based in Provence, there is some fantastic French music that runs through the entire film, though the theme song so to speak is Gotta Get Up, which, in my estimation is a tad average.

But what Ridley has done and quite masterfully at that, is strung together contrasting genres of music. So there is a smattering of the vintage stuff, some mod French pop and a lovely French take on the Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, which comes up at the end with the credits. Je Chante is sprightly. Le Chant Du Gardian has a nice lilt to it. The Wedding is nice and bouncy and Jump into the Fire is popish rock at best. Finally, Wisdom is equally evocative. Rarely do a book, a film and its soundtrack create such delight. But this is a CD worth having.

Photographs by Jagan Negi