The role of Luis Molina, the gay inmate obsessed with Hollywood’s Golden Age at the center of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” has been a good one for actors over the years. William Hurt received his first Best Actor Oscar for Hector Babenko’s 1985 film adaptation. Several years later, Brent Carver won a Tony Award for John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Broadway musical.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that the guy who plays Molina in Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is the standout. Still, it takes a special kind of actor to make such an immediate impact, as Tonatiuh, a newcomer, does in this film. They also don’t need all the window dressing of fantasy film musical sequences to make their scenes come alive.
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” has been revisited several times, the first being a novel by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig, published in 1976 and widely banned. It imagines the meeting of two classmates in an Argentinian prison, Molina, a romantic dreamer, and Valentin, a Marxist revolutionary. They develop an unexpected bond as Molina narrates the story of her favorite movie: a fantasy musical called “Kiss of the Spider Woman” starring fictional screen siren Ingrid Luna.
The latest is an adaptation of the Broadway musical, with Condon and the late playwright Terrence McNally co-credited for the script. Set in Argentina in 1983, amid a military dictatorship’s war on its political opponents, the film alternates between the bleak reality of a prison cell and the lavish MGM-style musical world in Molina’s imagination. Valentin refused to hear about it at first – he was too busy being serious and reading Lenin. “Okay, that sounds like fun,” Molina said, before giving his quote, “The struggle will not end until all people are free.” No, this is not Lenin, this is Side Charis in “Silk Stockings”.
But Molina is a persuasive and influential storyteller and soon Valentine joins her in this imaginary world. Movies are dreams, Molina says, acknowledging that no one claims “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is the greatest movie of all time. In a joking tone, which may be a self-aware defense of the film we’re watching, he says it’s “too ambitious for its own good, there’s too many flavors in the stew.” And yet, he says, “there’s so much beauty there.”
The world within the film is a sweet-coloured grandeur, a stark contrast to the scary atmosphere of the prison. With songs by Kander and Ebb, gorgeous costumes by Colleen Atwood, sets by Scott Chambliss, and classic choreography by Sergio Trujillo, Lopez has a deep canvas to work with. And she loves the high, glamorous pageantry of it all, the singing and dancing and the MGM work with all the enthusiasm she can muster.
Molina imagines herself in the role of his devoted assistant and Valentín as her lover. And while it’s fun to watch Tonatiuh and Luna frolic and frolic in this fantasy world, other than enjoying the visual spectacle, you never get invested in the movie within the movie. In this way, it is a release from the suffering of the cell. But to an audience member, the cell is where all the interesting drama and development is happening.
Valentin and Molina are clear opposites. Valentine is immersed in deep thoughts of what it means to be a man, and this meaning is only achieved through struggle. Molina may have his head in the clouds, but within those fantasies there’s also wisdom and smart survival instincts. He hasn’t been with Valentine by accident: he’s an informant. Naturally, this give-and-take situation turns into love and, of course, tragedy.
Condon is a journeyman filmmaker with a clear passion for the material at hand. Oscar-nominated for writing the screenplay for “Chicago,” Condon directs his musical sequences more simply — allowing the dancing to shine. And it’s fun to watch, a little bit of frivolity and escapism.
But you’re always eager to get back to the cell for more Tonatiuh. Molina’s main stage may be a drab, claustrophobic prison cell, but Tonatiuh’s performance is vibrant Technicolor.
The Roadside Attractions movie “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” released in theaters Friday, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for “language, some violence, sexual content.” Running time: 128 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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