Rent Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

Cellmates & Silver-Screen Confessions - Kiss of the Spider Woman review by griggs

Two men stuck in a cell, one soothing himself with retellings of old films, the other refusing anything that smells like comfort — and it somehow becomes a tender, bruised look at male intimacy. Talk is the lifeline.

When it keeps things tight between the two of them, Kiss of the Spider-Woman really works. The chats have that late-night, can’t-sleep honesty, and both leads are terrific — warmth and mistrust trading places line by line.

In the late stretch, the film starts widening out, and the spell weakens. It gets more explanatory, less lived-in, and what felt private begins to feel staged. Still, as a two-hander about connection under pressure, it hits more than it misses.

Hit & Miss of the Spider Woman - Kiss of the Spider Woman review by AM

What a strange little film. Certainly would recommend you view it as it's unlike anything I've seen before. William Hurt and Raul Julia are excellent bouncing off each other within their prison cell - the former giving an Oscar-winning performance well-deserved. The contrast between their squalid cell and the fantasy world of the movies Hurt is recounting back to Julia is wonderful. Film doesn't really tie together very well at the end though - was a little disappointed at how it ended - and a big negative is some of the absolutely ATROCIOUS acting from some of the supporting actors; Milton Gonçalves' screeching secret policeman being a particular lowlight.

But over all - Curious Bananas! Give it a look.

Kiss and Tell (spoiler) - Kiss of the Spider Woman review by Steve

This was nominated for Oscars for best film, director and script despite being far from the Hollywood mainstream in 1985. It's a psycho-sexual drama set in South America about a socialist freedom fighter who shares a prison cell with a homosexual man- identifying as a woman- who kills time narrating the plot of a Nazi propaganda spy melodrama.

The rebel should pay attention as the story will tell him something of his cellmate's true intensions. It's mostly a two hander set in a single location with Raul Julia as the macho rebel and William Hurt- who actually won a well deserved Oscar- as the would-be spider woman who seeks to entrap him, but falls forlornly in love. Or is s/he being played?

This is mainly of interest as an exploration of sexuality, but also a critique of fascism. So it's curious that while the novel/play by Manuel Puig is about Argentina in the 1970s, it is transferred to the Brazilian military dictatorship. Presumably this was a diplomatic decision. Either way, there is novelty in the attempt to bring magic realism into the cinema.

This is mainly about the characters and performances, as most of the plot is in the memory of an old German film; a romantic intrigue filtered through the lonely heartbreak of the collaborator. The climax set outside the prison is a chore. It's not wholly successful but there is a kaleidoscope of themes and possibilities which stand up to multiple viewings.