Kiss of the Spider Woman

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William L Kiss of the Spider Woman touches on interesting thoughts on escapism, confinement, and exploitation; of its two main characters, each social outcasts for different reasons, Hurt's Luis realizes the futility of complete immersion in fantasy and eventually confronts his denigration in the eyes of those around him as a result of his prominent homosexuality, while the initial cold and grounded Valentin (Juliá) recognizes the value of his happy memories as a brief respite from the cruelty of his imprisonment. That's all well and good, but there's also aspects of this Best Picture nominee (notable as the first independently-produced film to receive the nod) that are less substantial and actually form a bit of a drag on the film. Most prominently, it trades too heavily on Hurt's highly lauded performance; a film comes along and drops a protagonist in the audiences' laps (a gay man, in the years of the HIV/AIDS crisis) that has some eccentricities as well as the bare minimum of complexity, and critics lapped it up. Hurt himself is fine, but the character isn't exactly brimming with depth, with the big moral conundrum really boiling down to "maybe I shouldn't indirectly condemn an innocent man to save myself?" The film seems like it really hates to consider any sincere moral gray areas, and that makes it feel less like it dives into the suffering that it claims to focus on, and instead gives it a token nod on the way by. Considering Kiss of the Spider Woman in the context of film representation and the development of an indie presence in mainstream cinema, it's an important stepping stone. However, it's also a bit of a relic, and far from the profound think piece on outcasts and diversion that it has often been described as. (3/5) Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/03/21 Full Review robert p William Hurt won an academy award portraying a gay in this prison movie!!!!! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member William Hurt and Raul Julia are fantastic. But I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I wanted to. Too boring and too much talking. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review steve d Hurt gives one of the greatest performances of all time. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review jona i Hits its sweet, poignant points. And the oral movies are good allusions. The performances are top-notch. But it feels more like a talky play. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Hector Babenco was primarily known to me for directing Ironweed (1987) but this independent drama was what shot him to fame in the United States as it earned a Best Picture nomination and won William Hurt the Academy Award for Best Actor. I liked the idea of the film in theory more than I did in practice as the two leads lacked chemistry and the transition from apathy to a close emotional bond was muddled and difficult. I still found some enjoyment in the fake propaganda film described by the protagonist but Hurt's over the top performance left me cold and I was left emotionally unmoved at the end of the film. If you have an interest in seeing South American magical realism translated onto the screen with big name actors and a big budget then this will be of interest but it lacks the passion of The Holy Mountain (1973) and Dreams (1990). Brazilian prisoners, the gay Luis Molina, William Hurt, and the macho political prisoner Valentin Arregui, Raul Julia, under the military government form a close emotional bond as Molina describes a Nazi propaganda film to his cellmate. He romanticizes the film due to the tragic romance at it's center which follows Nazi officer Werner, Herson Capri, and nightclub performer Leni Lamaison, Sonia Braga, who begins working for the resistance after the death of her friend. Molina is revealed to be a spy who is trying to extract secrets from Arregui in exchange for his release but struggles to do so as he begins genuinely falling in love with him. The two eventually sleep together and proclaim their feelings for one another but Molina is released from prison and attempts to carry out his lover's wishes. The humor of the film within a film is quite refreshing amidst the depressing drama of the rest of the film as this is really the only time when the high camp of Hurt's performance is put to good use. We see the irony in a man taking a story intended to push ideals that would have gay men killed and extracting only the beauty of a tragic love story out of it. Possibly the only point in the film where I was emotionally touched was when Hurt describes the ideal of loving somebody forever but also the impossibility of this. The love stories of classic films present this idea constantly as the ideal love affair from Casablanca (1942) to For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) would appear to be getting separated from the love of your life as a result of political conflict. When we see the Aryan ideal and his Marlene Dietrich-esque lover walking into a projection room where they learn about the supposed "Jewish conspiracy" elicits some laughter but the film is careful never to push the joke too far. The other film within a film concerning the titular ‘spider woman' is less engaging as we spend less time on it as we do with Arregui's character development as a whole. The rest of the film is less interesting as Hurt goes to 11 in his portrayal of the effeminate Molina with every line being accompanied by big hand gestures and every emotion spelt out in capital letters. I wanted something more to him than this surface level portrayal and even his recollection of his attempts at love and rejection were not enough to make me believe this was an emotionally tortured man. An actor with more restraint could have done something really interesting with this part as there is room for layering and complexity but Hurt does not yet have the subtlety that would make him so brilliant in Children of a Lesser God (1986) and The Accidental Tourist (1988). Julia does a decent job at portraying a tough, emotionally fraught man but his attraction to Hurt is never believable on an emotional physical level and in that way they let the film down. Only Braga seems to have a handle on her character as she is exquisite in her imitation of old Hollywood stars and hits all the right comedic beats. Overall this film is not worth recommending as it would seem to tell a fascinating story about friendship and even love between men but never delves deep enough to make us care. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Kiss of the Spider Woman

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