Candy - Opening Sequence

"Candy", the 2006 drama directed by Neil Armfield was on TV a few nights ago and I just happened to catch the opening scene which had me glued to the screen within seconds.

It´s seldom that the very beginning of a film can almost make me cry, but the first two and a half minutes of Candy actually brought tears to my eyes! Pure cinematic magic! Make sure to watch in high resolution...


I am not in any way a big fan of Heath Ledger and I would have probably not even noticed him with the long and greasy hair, so I was free from this sort of sentiment while watching.



The whole sequence is brilliantly shot and edited. The way a simple ride on the "Rotor" is turned into a touching, surreal, foreboding overture for a drug-drama is amazing!
Even the kind-of ubiquitous use of Song to the Siren as the title music works wonderfully with the images. The Tim Buckley song is performed by Paula Arundell which brings some freshness to the arrangement.



At the end of the title-sequence the screen goes black and the word "heaven" appears.




Re-watch the scene and notice the strong metaphoric hints. The curious young woman who leads the nervous, reluctant man into the black room. The kids who storm past them in giddy anticipation, without a care in the world.



The spectator who looks down on the spinning riders who are pinned down by gravity, trying not to slide down towards the falling floor. The riders who can only see themselves clearly inside their spinning room, as they look up all the can see is a blur.


Interestingly, the "Rotor"-ride is sometimes called "Devil´s Hole".