Spider

Rating:
Summary: Stuck with Me
Review: Director David Cronenberg and lead actor Fiennes do a dead-on job of not only showing the viewer, but by sucking the viewer into the life of a schizophrenic.
This portrait of a schizophrenic is an expressionistic piece of art. Watching this, I couldn't help but be moved by the sheer emptiness, and frustration of Fienne's character as he recollects his past, and tries to come to terms with a murder commited in the family.
The acting is superb by Miranda Richardson, Fiennes, Gabriel Byrne, and the kid who played Fiennes' charchter as a boy. Those familiar with Cronenberg films will recognize this as one of his right away, as it is shot as only he can think of. The directing, the set, the camera angles, the minute details all add to this poignant world of layers, it leaves a feeling of helplessness..you will realize just how creepy this movie is in the following days, as it lingers on.
A certain must-see for all lovers of fine film.

Rating:
Summary: Clothes maketh the man........
Review: 'Spider' is a deftly drawn character study of a schizophrenic who relives his past when he returns to the area where he grew up. Like Christopher Walken in 'The Dead Zone' and Peter Weller in 'Naked Lunch', Ralph Fiennes lives inside his visions and memories. Cronenberg is careful to set us inside Spider's point of view, never overtly mentioning mental illness. The starkness of the set design and Spider's tattered wardrobe evoke the plays of Samuel Beckett more than anything else and indeed the bleakness of the story isn't far removed from Beckett's own dramatic outlook.

Cronenberg's movies always focus on different aspects of sexual psychology and in 'Spider' Ralph Fiennes's character suffers from jealousy of his father's role in the family. Spider's love for his mother eventually makes him see her in all women, his father's mistress, his landlady, even a pair of photos featuring a pair of topless models. As a consequence Miranda Richardson plays a number of roles within the film, ever present in most of the female characters. Cronenberg also intensifies Spider's isolation on screen by having him walk London streets that are almost totally empty of people and automobiles. Howard Shore once again provides an eerie and evocative soundtrack.

Unfortunately the main difference between 'Spider' and a Samuel Beckett play is the former's lack of humour. At the beginning of the film one of Ralph Fiennes boarding house companions, John Neville, welcomes the central character to his new abode and in the course of their initial companionship Neville is rewarded with some laugh-out-loud lines. We don't see much of him again after the first 30 minutes, which is a shame as it would have been wonderful to see more this charming character.

Rating:
Summary: sweet gentle claustiphobia
Review: Big warm blanket of madness slowly suffocating. Making the tiny world in his mind too huge to bear. The smooth descent, a beatiful gentle horror.

Rating:
Summary: An epiphanic experience
Review: Every once in awhile I like to watch a David Cronenberg film. One thing you will always get from a Cronenberg film is a serious look at how technology and human beings interact. Like science fiction author J.G. Ballard, Cronenberg's films embrace a synthesis of man and machine that is exceedingly grim, an outlook usually complimented with generous helpings of gore. The overarching theme in his cinematic examinations seems to be that humans simply do not know enough about the technology they develop, or if they do, their arrogance in the ultimate abilities of mankind always leads them charging into experiments despite the risks. That we are just not far seeing enough to predict the outcome of using new drugs or messing around with human genetics may be a good message to take from a Cronenberg film. "Spider" is a departure from the above traits, resembling "Dead Ringers" more than it does "Scanners," "Shivers," or other Cronenberg films. The film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Patrick McGrath, a novel that takes as its central theme the devastating consequences of mental illness.

Meet Dennis "Spider" Cleg (Ralph Fiennes), a guy with more problems than you could possibly fathom. Spider is mentally ill, a result of a problematic childhood and a horrific incident that caused his fragile mind to finally crack. When we first meet Spider he's just gotten out of the asylum and is checking into a half way house in the hope that he is finally ready to rejoin society. It's difficult to imagine Spider is ready for anything seeing as how he barely talks, spends most of his time scrawling doggerel into a tiny notebook, and has occasional outbursts of hysteric hostility over such mundane incidents as a small whiff of heating gas. Still, what do we know about mental illness? Maybe he really is ready to confront his dark past and the complexities of the modern world. In the meantime, Spider deals with the stern taskmaster in charge of the halfway house (Lynn Redgrave) and its kooky residents. As he lives in his largely internal world, Spider begins to remember his early life, the world he knew before the darkness stole over his mind and robbed him of his faculties. It's a dark world indeed, a world Spider needs to recall if he is to become healthy again.

It turns out that Spider's father and his mother had a highly unpleasant relationship. The mother adores her son, fondly nicknaming him "Spider" and doting on him whenever possible. His father Bill, on the other hand, is a cold, aloof man who seems as though he cannot stand the banalities of living with his wife and his son. Spider soon learns his father is up to no good when he sees his dad at the pub associating with a grotesque, bleach blonde prostitute of decidedly icky appearance named Yvonne. One thing leads to another, as adultery often does, and the elder Cleg and the tart consummate their relationship in a particularly sordid way (check out what she throws into the river! Yuck!). Then the madness begins. The prostitute and Spider's father decide to live together as man and wife, a definite problem considering there is already a spouse living under the Cleg roof. Murder is the answer, and murder becomes the solution as Spider's mother dies at the hands of her husband and his new lover. Even worse, Bill and Yvonne want Spider to accept them as his parents, something the boy adamantly refuses to do. Young Dennis decides to take matters into his own hands using his knowledge of making "webs" out of household twine, thus concocting a little surprise for Bill and Yvonne. I'm not going to tell you anything more beyond this point except to say you simply MUST watch this movie. Go out right now and rent it, this second, so you can watch it right away.

"Spider" is a film that punishes you for complacency. I should have known better considering my experience with Cronenberg films, but I simply popped this disc in the player, set back, and accepted on face value everything I saw. BIG MISTAKE. Nothing is what it seems in "Spider," absolutely nothing. Not until the movie neared the explosive revelation at the conclusion of the film did I begin to grasp the reality of the whole thing. Then I howled with surprise and understanding, suddenly remembering all of the clues Cronenberg placed at strategic points throughout the film to help his audience figure it all out. You will probably do the same thing, and that's o.k. since it's what makes the whole thing so much fun. Until you understand what the heck is going on, enjoy the blasted landscapes of London and the phenomenal performances from the stellar cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Bill Cleg like a pro, Miranda Richardson turns in the performance--actually three performances, by the way--of a lifetime. Ralph Fiennes as the disabled Spider really steals the show. We all know he can act because we saw him in "Schindler's List," but he trumps even that performance here. His acting is Oscar worthy, and that's an understatement.

The DVD edition provides plenty of extras explaining nearly everything you would want to know about the movie. There's a lengthy Cronenberg interview where the director explains the difficulties he encountered bringing the film to fruition, a commentary track, a behind the scenes featurette, a trailer, a widescreen picture transfer, and interviews with the cast. Don't even listen to the people who say they hate this film; they simply don't know what they're talking about. "Spider" may well be Cronenberg's best film in his long career, and that's saying something. Brilliant, this one, and well worth owning. Now get out and watch it!

Rating:
Summary: Come Into My Parlour, Said The Spider To The Fly
Review: From the opening frames of the credits, the church hymn, the Rorschach prints and the measured and precise pacing of them, we are entering a world of a severely disengaged man, who has had the spectre of schizophrenia as his constant companion, both in his waking and sleeping hours. The mumblings and rememberances of Dennis Clegg (Ralph Fiennes) combine to make for a journey down Memory Lane that is unlike any that rational, thinking people would care to take, let alone inhabit and from which there is very little chance of escape.

Fiennes spends the length of the film attempting to piece together bits and pieces of times past in his childhood, that may or may not have happened. The prize in this herculanean effort is not so much to discover the unseemly goings on of his father, but rather seeking a discourse into the inner workings of Clegg's mind and what it potentially holds and abandons at will.

Dennis Clegg has been released into the care of a matron (Lynn Redgrave) in a halfway house in a decaying, dying section of London, that has become the home, heart and soul for others of his ilk; the mentally disabled, discharged from the asylum, but not quite ready for habitation in the outside world at large. His lodgings represent the underbelly of a netherworld that caters to no one and where rehabilitation is a foreign word, absent from the vocabulary of those in charge.

Redgrave plays Mrs. Wilkinson, the spawn of Nurse Ratchet, with a demeanor as cold as the grave and as uncaring as any you are likely to see. Hers is a job, nothing more, nothing less; an automaton in the flesh. John Neville (teamed again with Fiennes. He was in Sunshine.) as Terrance, another resident of the house, has etched a character who sums up the medicated and serene patient seen as a non-threat to the establishment, but who attempts to warn Clegg of the queenly attitudes of Wilkinson and the powers she holds. This British character actor's small part in this film is a gem deserving of recognition.

Every movement that Clegg makes is guaranteed to bear witness to a recollection and to focus on events as perceived in his ever crumbling mind. Once his journey into neverland begins, we are brought along ever so slowly so that we capture these moments precisely and without seeing error. We learn that his mother, as played by Miranda Richardson, had nicknamed him Spider and it is through his newly gained name that his mannerisms take on the skin of the animal. Each newly remembered facet of his world is honed on the impressions of a spider web -- the string, broken
glass, the jigsaw puzzle, the string game he plays at the kitchen table -- spiraling and spinning the child and the man into its deadly web and further from reality as we know it.

Richardson portrays three multi-faceted characters in this film, three spirits, and with each one she sheds a skin and grows another, entirely different in bearing and manner. It is a tour de force performance. Gabriel Bryne as Bill Clegg is dark and daunting, shown as a family man bored and tired with the mundance existance that is his life. Or is he?

The performance of Bradley Hall as the young Spider is eerie and precisely on the money. You can feel a kindred spirit between his child Spider and the adult that he is to become in Ralph Fiennes.

The best has been saved for last and that honour belongs to Ralph Fiennes. His Spider is haunted and haunting, gritty and realistic. This crumbling vestige of a man has been finely honed and not once did I think that I was watching a performance but rather as true a representation of a schizophrenic as one is able to command. It is not a glamour role or a safe role, not a trace of pretty boy about it and thank god, none attempting to project itself from the proceedings! Fiennes, who is known for the research he puts into his roles, has scored all aces with this one.

Another added plus is that Hollywood has not managed to ruin a good thing -- a film that truly makes one THINK about what they have just seen. I cannot help but put another role as a schizophrenic into play -- that of Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind. When you see these two films and attempt to add the similarities, about the only one that comes to mind IS the fact that schizophrenics are being represented and nothing more. Fiennes has left, for all intents and purposes, Crowe's portrayal in the dust, and if Hollywood has any guts come Oscar nomination time, they will credit a true acting triumph, rather than the orchestrated ones that usually win because of huge studio mounted pushes. Spider is the little film that could, did and should.

Spider is not an easy film to watch, but then seeing madness never is. There are those who will be turned off by it, or perhaps momentarily subjected to moments of quiet. Then again, others will cheer a peformance that is worthy of the accolade, a job very well done indeed! BRAVO! Cronenberg, as director, has launched a film that is as subdued and unassuming as a breath of air as it brushes past a cheek. The hollow streets, the absence of crowds and the delicate renderings of cast and crew alike, have conveyed a dream or as some would insist, a nightmare and
forsaken a Hollywood beginning, middle and end.

I sincerely hope that Spider is not lost in the shuffle of films that will spill forth over the course of the spring, or be considered as "too arthouse" to warrant consideration by other than those who know absolute talent when it is put in front of them. This film is not "entertainment" per se, and that would be the wrong word to use. Rather, eye opening and thought provoking would be a more apt description. It's a step on the edge of the abyss and the eventual and catastrophic conclusion that must become Spider's reality.

It is minimalist and daring and I can't say strongly enough how much this ensemble cast has brought forth for our inspection. See this film and be amazed at it in all its consummate glory!

Rating:
Summary: Cronenberg + Schizophrenia = Brilliant
Review: Cronenberg depict schizophrenia through Spider (Ralph Fiennes) with brutal honesty. In addition, the dark theme that saturates the story leads the audience through several unopened doors that reveal the true darkness behind Spider's past as he attempts to find the truth for himself. The essential question is whether some doors are better off left unopened. Spider is a truly well made film that demonstrates Cronenbergs understanding for the human psyche which leaves the audience with a terrific cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: Itsy bitsy Spider
Review: Spider marks the triumphant return to form for director David Cronenberg after the lightweight and screwball eXistenZ. Like much of his most heartfelt work - The Dead Zone, The Fly & Dead Ringers to name a few -, Spider is a tragic tale of an afflicted and alienated man. We first meet Spider - beautifully played by Ralph Fiennes - as he takes up residence in a halfway house, a dismal limbo between institution and the real world. One look at him and we know in our bones he will never take that next step. This is a man without a future and whos present is overwhelmed by his past. What unfolds is a tale of memory and madness as seen subjectively through the eyes of a shattered personality. Cronenberg's direction is brilliantly assured and deceptively economical. And as good as Ralph Fiennes is - and he is good -, it is Miranda Richardson who delivers the most impressive performance in the film. She will no doubt be overlooked but certainly does deserve a Best Supporting Actress nomination. David Cronenberg's Spider is a small, sad and beautiful film and one of the best of 2003.

Rating:
Summary: misfire
Review: This is an incredibly tedious film from the usually excellent David Cronenberg. It takes a huge amount of patience to sit through the seemingly interminable 93 minutes. That said though I will give it one more go just to make sure before I consign this disc to the trash.

Rating:
Summary: Master Muffett ........
Review: INDEED! master Michael Powell would applaud loudly since this cream-de-la-creame work by David Cronenberg fits snugly next to his "Peeping Tom" [with a vague echo of "10 Rillington Place"].

Performances are superb - Ralph Fiennes [very Kafka here another nod inthe right direction] Gabriel Byrne as the 'tortured' father, John Neville as an 'inmate' and Lynnie Redgrave as the Caretaker! Quite superlative BUT -

MIRANDA RICHARDSON! Gem of a performance as the mousy "Mum", the bleach-blonde and leopard skinned Diana Dors clone, and the almost sexy Caretaker 2 ...... great work afoot here.

Costume design? Spot on - where did they find nylons with seams and heels these days?

Quite a glum but fascinating journey through this boys mind - also a close clone to "Young Poisoner's Handbook".

Rating:
Summary: oedipal..........
Review: Michael Powell ["Peeping Tom"] would heartily applaud this subtle homage to his work. Drab, dreary, funky and utterly disturbing - a sinister portrait of genteel madness, obsession and love that would even turn Kafka's head[s].

THE movie ultimately belongs to Miranda Richardson ['Dance with a Stranger] in a triple role, mother, whore and caretaker. As the Blonde-Bombshell Diana Dors clone she shines with utter perversion - then there's the mousy mother ala Rachel Roberts, and the cold. clammy caretaker - still with sex appeal....

Ralph Fiennes as the semi-mute muttering mental case is sad to observe - especially his non-ability to connect. John Neville - as an inmate - true or false - another great find - very underrated performer, and Gabriel Byrne's fractured father figure is quite quite devastating in its DH Lawrence 'manliness' - all brawn - little or no brain .....

Costumes are perfect to the period.

Not quite Cronenberg's best [perhaps Crash?] but a stellar chamber-piece!