Spider
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Movie Reviews of Spider
Movie Review: QUITE POSSIBLY, CRONENBERG'S BEST FILM
Summary: 5 Stars
There are some very fine reviews here. But I had to chime in. WARNING: Some of the reviewers have given away the secrets and plot twists to this amazing pyschological thriller. BE CAREFUL or this may ruin your viewing experience. One of the joys of this film for me was the revelation of themes and the mystery of Spider's delusional mind. Having heard very little about this film even after hearing Cronenberg talk on NPR, this film took me by complete surprise. The ending absolutely fooled me and the method Cronenberg uses to reveal Spider's delusion is brilliant. I still did not know about this device until the credits were rolling. I felt naive because it all seemed so obvious. This is what I love about film. Being duped. Thanks, Cronenberg! (I hope I haven't given anything away.)
As stated before, this is a bleak mood piece about a schizophrenic ghost of a man who is released from an asylum. Plagued by visions of his childhood, he slowly reenacts the apparent cause of his insanity. It's a very barren and minimalist piece of film making that is not for everyone. The performances are flawless. The pallette is dark and drab. The pacing is slow. The images are stark and brooding. The image of Spider scrawling in his mad hieroglyphic diary with smoke stained hands against a dirty wall framed in heavy shadow left me breathless. It's a scene of isolated madness like no other.
I have never considered myself a big fan of Cronenberg. I've always loved THE FLY. NAKED LUNCH left me confused. The William Burroughs novel of the same name is stream of consciousness nightmare vision and almost impossible to translate into film. Very brave of Cronenberg to try. DEAD RINGERS was disturbingly delicious. But SPIDER may be Cronenberg's best film. If he were to make another film as stunning as this one I just might become one of his biggest fans.
This film is for adults who like mystery, themes of madness, and smart mood pieces. Teenagers or others looking for a standard horror movie may want to look elsewhere.
WATCHING THE CONCLUSION I FELT AS IF I HAD WITNESSED SOMETHING HITCHCOCK WOULD HAVE KILLED TO DIRECT, HAD HE STILL BEEN ALIVE. THIS FILM MAY EVEN SURPASS ANYTHING OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE THE MASTER MAY HAVE DIRECTED. BRAVO, CRONENBERG! CHEERS, TO RALPH AND MIRANDA!
HITCH WOULD HAVE LOVED THIS.
Movie Review: A disturbing and fascinating journey into mental illness
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is a strange mood piece with a tremendous performance by Ralph Fiennes as a man who's been released from a mental institution and has returned to the London neighborhood where he grew up. The nature of his illness is deliberately unclear. We simply watch as familiar surroundings trigger disturbing memories of his boyhood, and through them we slowly piece together his story.The mood is set by a long, long tracking shot as the movie begins, as passengers disembark from a train in a large London terminal. The camera seems to be searching through this throng for someone in particular, and after what seems like an eternity, Fiennes as Spider emerges painfully and awkwardly onto the platform with a beat-up suitcase. And we are plunged from a scene of everyday activity into his world, which is far, far removed from the everyday and ordinary.
There's a twilight-zone kind of ambiance in the movie, as the camera shows us interiors and exteriors that are typically empty of furnishings and people. Street scenes, for instance, have no passing traffic, no pedestrians, not even cars parked at curbs. The lighting is often like stage lighting, coming from unexpected sources and providing an eerie flatness. The soundtrack alternates between strange rumbling noises, a small group of strings experimenting with mournful dissonance, and a lovely old-fashioned ballad that Spider remembers from childhood.
The supporting actors are wonderful, as they waver in our perception between what their characters really are and how they appear to Spider. Miranda Richardson has the task of playing three different characters, each as Spider sees them. Gabriel Byrne and Lynne Redgrave in brief scenes give richly nuanced performances. As with many indie movies, the commentary and other features on the DVD provide further interesting insights.
This is not a movie for an audience looking for entertainment. It is a psychological study and something of a mystery, as we make what sense we can of what the movie slowly reveals of its central character. I recommend it to anyone fascinated by the darker sides of the human psyche, the puzzle of mental illness, and the strange ways that the everyday world can be transformed by a troubled and isolated point of view.
Movie Review: A glimpse into the dark world of the mentally ill
Summary: 5 Stars
This 2002 film stars Ralph Fiennes as man who has just been released from a mental institution after many years. He obviously still has mental illness, but is probably not considered a threat, and so he's sent to a dreary halfway house run by Lynn Redgrave. His isolation from the world is clear as he wanders around the streets of London and partial memories come back to haunt him. The audience actually has a chance to get inside his mind and it's never clear as to what is real and what isn't.On one of his wanderings, he looks inside a house and sees a mother and child. Soon we understand that this family is his interpretation of his own world as a child. Ten-year old Bradley Hall plays the young boy and the role calls for him to live in a world that seems slightly askew. Miranda Richardson is cast as the mother as well as two other different roles, and she does such a good job that I thought there were actually three different actresses. It wasn't until I saw the special features on the DVD that I realized what was going on.
As the story unfolds we see the boy witnessing his father, played by Gabriel Bryne, romancing both the mother and a local woman he meets in a bar. There's a murder. And we're not exactly sure what happened because the details just don't seem real. It takes a while for us to realize that this is because the director, David Cronenberg, in his adaptation of a novel by Patrick McGrath, actually brings us inside the mind of this poor tortured man.
It's all very abstract and hard to follow and I found myself bored and impatient. But I'm glad I sat through the film to the end and saw the special features on the DVD. It helped make sense of a very complex and expressionistic film that delves deep within the human psyche and gives us a glimpse into the dark world of the mentally ill.
This is not a film for everyone. It is disturbing on many levels. It's also hard to understand. However, it is so brilliantly done that I do not hesitate in giving it a high recommendation, especially for certain kinds of film buffs who can appreciate an abstract film and not care if it leaves a sad resonance.
Movie Review: We Can All Go Home Now.
Summary: 5 Stars
Spider. He remembers everything and nothing.
He likes to go into a picture that is hanging in this café he visits. In the picture, he and 2 of his friends say and do the most hilariously perverse things to one another. Then Spider takes nudey pics out of his pants and it's flippin' uproarious
Spider likes to put together jigsaw puzzles but instead of taking a break when he gets stuck, he freaks out and throws the puzzle all over the floor! Missus whatshername yells at him that he has to pick all the pieces back up and you know damn well he's not going to do what she says.
Spider gets completely hypnotized by the gasworks across the street from his house, he just stands there and he can't even move. His best friend has to come and literally drag him back into the house. I think he killed his mom that way but I wonder if he knows. He must because he can't move when he looks at the gasworks. Yet his mind is working just like that gasworks, automatic. I'm still so confused and I've scene this bloody movie 5 times.
He smokes like a total fiend, so much so that his hands are all yellow, he'll smoke at really inappropriate times, too, like when he's laying in bed. He writes and writes and I'm not convinced yet that he can speak coherently. It's all face and eyes. Mostly eyes.
His hair cut makes him look like a little kid when it's clean and when his mate breaks a huge mirror and tries to kill himself, Spider steals (he's an expert theif) and then turns in the piece of glass he's stolen. But he can hardly speak, so damaged.
And when he takes a bath, he lays on his side in the rust stained water, completely still, joyless, cold. Hard.
You just want to heal this man, at least I wanted to. Ralph Fiennes (Super Hot? And what does that mean this time around?) is spot on as this afflicted damaged schizophrenic suffering and dangerous man. I've seen everything Fiennes has ever done and for me, this is IT.
The Best. EVER.
Movie Review: One of my favorite movies ever
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a massive Ralph Fiennes fan. Let's just get that out of the way right now. I have no doubt that this man could act out the phone book and make it interesting. With that said, this is my favorite RF movie, and subsequently, one of my favorite movies of all time.
It's difficult to describe the plot because, as others have said, it's complex and filled with twists that I really don't want to give away. So my only real option is to focus on the direction and acting, both of which are brilliant. This is a more restrained version of a Cronenberg movie, but no less interesting. He uses a massive amount of symbolism that makes you feel like you're inside a work of art, as opposed to just watching it.
The two best performances are from Miranda Richardson and Ralph Fiennes. Richardson plays three different characters (more of that symbolism) and by the end, manages to blend all three together into a sum where you can actually pick out what aspects belong to each character. It's a really incredible sight. Fiennes, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction. He gets so into his character, it becomes totally and eerily believable. He barely says a single comprehensible word so the entire film relies on his body language. I think it's incredible that he carries the movie so well.
Some have said this film moves at a slow pace, but that wasn't the case for me. I was really interested in what was happening and what was going to happen, although I can understand that some might find it tough to sit through. This is a movie that will make you think, and I would definitely suggest it to anyone who's interested.