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