fisher@smiley.DEC (Gerry --- Terminally Inane) (10/02/85)
RE: Review of KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN >He [Hurt] neither looks nor sounds like he has been >in Brazil long. This is never more obvious than in a scene in which he is >walking on a Brazilian street. He looks like a newly-arrived American >tourist. If he doesn't seem Brazilian enough, he seems much too homosexual. >If Hurt ever wanted to prove he was heterosexual, his performance in this >film would do it. His mannerisms are every bit as overdone as those of any >black comic-relief actor in any '30's or '40's film. I think that the review missed a crucial point. Hurt isn't a bad actor. He's playing a gay man who is a bad actor. The whole film is a study of the way we internalize the hatred of society and put on the face that mirrors that hatred. Molina knows darn well he's acting, but he turns the effeminacy on and off to keep his oppressors off guard. Notice the difference between Hurt when he is telling his story about the KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN, when he is meeting with the prison officials, and when he is arguing intensely with his cell mate. He appears to be three different people; he puts on the performance that will keep him alive. (Besides, what the heck is "too homosexual"?) As for Julia, he is so wrapped up in his revolutionary dogma, that he ignores his own humanity (how he feels about his girlfriend, the simple pleasures of a good meal, etc.). He is putting on a performance just as Molina is putting on a performance. I think that the reviewer missed the crucial flaw of the movie: the inability to project a sense of time and place. All of Julia's ranting and raving is vague and boring. What country? What establishment? What revolution? How can we feel for this man shouting, "I must be committed to the cause," when we don't know what the cause is? How can Hurt be out of place in Brazil, when the film makers did not make it clear that we were watching a film that took place in Brazil? The result of this vague depiction of time and place is that we loose empathy for Julia's "cause," whatever it is, and empathize only with the timeless, "placeless," plight of homosexual Molina. The film looses its symmetry. Gerry Fisher ...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-smiley!fisher *************************************************************************** Nashua, NH: Where the men are men, and the sheep are nervous.
leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (10/02/85)
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This Brazilian prison drama is well-
made but still drags on and on. It is only in the last half
hour that it really has much entertainment value at all.
Hurt overacts, but Julia is good in his part.
For its first three-quarters, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN moves along at a
snail's pace, then finally in the last half-hour it picks up to a turtle's
pace. The film really has two inter-related goals. One is to contrast
cinematic intrigue with its real-life counterpart; the other is to show life
in a Brazilian prison.
Luis Molina (William Hurt) and Valentin Arregui (Raul Julia) are
cellmates. Julia has been tangentially connected with an anti-government
underground; Hurt has been imprisoned for homosexual activities. In the
tight confines of the prison cell, they carry on a hot and cold
relationship. Hurt keeps Julia entertained by describing a couple of
melodramatic films (one of which is called KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN) and
they are both played like puppets by the prison governors.
Julia plays his part with complete conviction. I have not been
particularly fond of Julia's previous roles that I have seen. He was only
adequate in THE ESCAPE ARTIST and he really seemed out of place in OVERDRAWN
AT THE MEMORY BANK. (I haven't seen his current COMPROMISING POSITIONS.)
Yet he was totally believable as Valentin. The actor who seemed out of
place was Hurt. He had a much harder task than Julia and I am sure that we
will hear from the critics that he gave a stand-out performance, but for me
it did not work for a minute. He neither looks nor sounds like he has been
in Brazil long. This is never more obvious than in a scene in which he is
walking on a Brazilian street. He looks like a newly-arrived American
tourist. If he doesn't seem Brazilian enough, he seems much too homosexual.
If Hurt ever wanted to prove he was heterosexual, his performance in this
film would do it. His mannerisms are every bit as overdone as those of any
black comic-relief actor in any '30's or '40's film.
In spite of a mis-calculated performance by Hurt, I think the film
deserves a +1 (on the -4 to +4 scale) for its artistic merits. But as an
entertainment film it drags badly and cannot get more than a -1.
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper