Directed By Bill Condon

Starring – Diego Luna, Tonatiuh, Jennifer Lopez

The Plot – Set in an Argentinian prison in 1983 during the military dictatorship, Luis Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay hairdresser, is serving an eight-year sentence for allegedly corrupting a minor. To escape the horrors of his imprisonment, Molina imagines films starring a classic screen actress named Ingrid Luna (Lopez), including a role of the spider woman, who kills her prey with a kiss. Molina’s life is upended when a Marxist, Valentin Arregui Paz (Luna), is brought into his cell, and the two form an unlikely bond.

Rated R for adult language, sexual content and some violence.

KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN | Official Trailer | In Theaters October 10

POSITIVES

As hard as it is to believe, it’s been nearly twenty years since Condon struck Oscar gold with his period piece musical, “Dreamgirls”, and while the eclectic director has commanded other musicals since then, it’s only with “Kiss of the Spider-Woman” does it feel glaringly evident that his panache for prestigious presentations hasn’t faded a bit, cementing what is easily the best film from the director in well over a decade. As previously conveyed, Condon is no stranger to musicals, and because of such, seamlessly articulates the spectacle and pageantry of the film within the film, featuring these elaborately staged, luxuriously decorated, and dreamily intoxicating musical numbers, that do especially feel refreshing toward emphasizing many of the unique aspects of the golden age of musical cinema, which transpire breathlessly here. Not only does Condon and cinematographer, Tobias A Schliessler, shoot the passionately imaginative with an appealing wide take proximity in shot framing, in order to flesh out more of the extensively captivating choreography that contemporary musicals strangely overlook and undervalue, but also visually indulge in the color coordination of wardrobe and the stylistic impulses of the vibrantly scrumptious set designs, in order to illustrate a much brighter and bolder avenue of escapism for Luis and Valentin, and while the soundtrack performances are admittedly hit and miss between the film’s fourteen performance numbers, the choice that Condon makes to noticeably trim quite a few of them from the 80’s original movie is both boldly daring and momentously vital, helping to outline a consistency to the movie’s pacing, that does make the two hour runtime transpire with much more urgency and smooth transitioning between its two worlds than its overstuffed predecessor. Like that movie, the script definitely has problems in transferring naturally to the silver screen, but does double down on the sentiments of its important messaging, especially during such a unique time in our world where personal rights are being contested in ways that prove we as a society have learned little from our darkest days. Because of such, the material elaborates that not only is this a film about the urgencies of political agendas, particularly those being led by physical force, but also a film that places such irreplaceable value to the benefit of cinema, with each of these characters utilizing the fictional enveloping as a means of escapism from the daily horrors of their lives behind bars, with each of them imposing their own realities in the depths of these fictional characters and song themes, from the film that they are both describing so passionately. While the gimmick unloads some creative choices in immersing us into the mentality of both Luis and Valentin, with figures from their lives occasionally intruding upon Ingrid’s identity, the single greatest impulse that Condon orchestrates is how the converging synergy of discussing these film helps to break the ice between two characters who couldn’t be anymore polar opposites if you plucked them out of a crowd personally, and the journey helps to unravel a naturally conceived bond between them that is both beautifully endearing and tragically wrenching on the emotional attachment that I carried to both of them. This is probably because Luis and Valentin are written with so much compassion and understanding than most male characters are particularly saddled with in musicals, especially in the tepidly tender initializing of their opposing sexual orientations, but so much more impactful meaning is paid in the depths of the dazzling performances of Diego Luna and especially Tonatiuh, who each inscribe no shortage of stirring soul and openly embraced vulnerability between them. For every periodic struggle that Luna elicits in musical numbers, he more than makes up for illustrating the scars of dramatics that persist painfully within him like ghosts in the fog of his memories, crafting a resilient-but-remorseful protagonist who represents the humanity of the movie’s conflict continuously hanging in the balance of the storytelling. As for my first interpretation to the magic of Tonatiuh, I can say that he is both an exceptionally gifted actor, with the ability to transform here into a duo of personalities representing the person he is versus the person that he dreams to be, but also the fiery intensity of his vocalizing during quite a few song performances, and for an actor with such minimal experience to this point, the ways he frequently orbits around feelings pertaining to regret and even deception appraise an earnestness from within him that makes the character feel like he’s crippling at the seams, conveying the magnitude of the internalized struggle to gay population during the Argentina overthrow, who found their lifestyle choices ostracized by those in power using it against them. I also don’t want to overlook Jennifer Lopez’s impact on the film, as musically she feels as polished and prominently energetic as anything that she’s ever released as a pop music princess, but even in conveying the eccentrics of an actress of the age and era, she conjures an energy for physicality and spirited demeanor that makes her stand out like a breath of fresh air during aforementioned musical numbers, with the charisma of Lopez utilized to breathe adoration for how easy it is for Luis and others to fall in love with her cinematic starlet.

NEGATIVES

Similar to the original 80’s film that the movie remakes, the script features a few problems that noticeably detract from its intended destination, beginning with some underwhelming choices in the execution of Valentin’s character, that forces Luna to work overtime towards matching the compelling emphasis commanded by both Tonatiuh and Lopez. His biggest moments as the character pertain to those where he’s recounting a political rally turned gruesomely barbaric, and while Luna succeeds at inspiring gravitas to the shocking nature of the story, it doesn’t have the obvious emotional impact that was so obviously intended, cutting Luna and the backstory of the character off at the knees from a lack of overexertion on Condon’s direction to get lost in the depths of such devastation so early on in the film. In fact, a lot of the scenes set in the prison have the inescapable effect of feeling appetizers to the main course of the musical numbers, a fact that’s all the more strange considering I was more invested to the former than their fantastical counterparts. This leads to my second issue with the film, in which the fictional film within the film feels less and less engaging the longer the film persists, when compared to the developing narrative between Luis and Valentin, leading to some pratfalls with the pacing, especially during the film’s second half, that withered on my investment to the narrative and its corresponding storytelling. This is somewhat forgivable with Condon’s obvious intention to focus more firmly and lengthily alongside Luis and Valentin, the deeper we get into the film, but it’s never any less jarring when the tone of the musical numbers clashes abrasively with the tone of drama elicited during those tenderized moments between cellmates, crafting far too many transitions, even by the film’s third act, which should reflect the desire of the men to live in the moment with each other, rather than the fantastically elaborate escapism that once succeeded the downtrodden of their respective lives. Finally, there are some glaringly elevated sound deposits in the post-production of this film that evade undeterred commitment to many of the interactions involving Luis and Valentin communicating with prison guards from outside of their cell, featuring these jolts of volume that made it feel like characters were bipolar, in their desire to shout spontaneously, when in reality the sloppy stitching was the culprit for such nagging consistencies.

OVERALL
“Kiss of the Spider-Woman” represents a dazzlingly vibrant return to form for Bill Condon, whose visually flamboyant panache and prominent performances help to combat the absence of some of the emotional impact most noticeably missing from a story as contemporarily relevant as one pertaining to individual rights and escapism in the arts. While the web weaved from Condon is strong enough to maintain the weight of some complex themes and abrupt tonal shifts, it’s truly Tonatiuh’s captivating work that takes some of the pressure off of his director, allowing us the virtues of seeing gay characters as a means for change and revolution towards standing on the right side of history.

My Grade: 7.3 or B-