Kiss of the Spider Woman

incredibly deeply touching movie. under the oppressive weight of prisons in the south America, under the inhumane rules of the dictatorship. 2 lost souls in the darkness trying to combine their diminished strength to hang on whatever left from their humanity.... Full review

A bizarre, evocative film which seems strange even now -- I can't imagine what audiences made of it in 1985. William Hurt and Raul Julia play cell mates, one gay, the other straight, rotting away in a Latin American prison... Full review

I know the film has a reputation for being a great film, but frankly this was never one of my favorites. It really boils down to a two-character study that was probably ideal for the stage but doesn't transfer that... Full review

In this film William Hurt plays the part of a transvestite who helps a man who has been tossed in a horrible jail in some backwater country and gets dysentary. I suppose this is a 'ground breaking' film to many...to me... Full review

The first time I saw this movie it had just been released. The theater was packed and my wife and I ended up sitting in the front row on a wing. I hated the movie. I couldn't understand what all... Full review

"She, uh...well, she's something a little strange, that's what you notice, that she's a woman not like all the others." The mix of fantasy and reality in this movie is very unique for English-language films, and the actors make both the... Full review

Slow-paced but amazingly compelling and moving drama, mainly set in the filthy prison cell of a never-named Latin American dictatorship country. It is here that the flamboyant homosexual Molina shares his escape-fantasies with the idealistic (but heterosexual) revolutionary warrior Valentin.... Full review

Raul Julia and William Hurt play Valentin Arregui and Luis Molina, cell-mates in a South American jail. Valentin is a political prisoner trying to keep his sanity, and Luis is a gay man with fantasies of Nazis and their beautiful... Full review

it's so great when we are treated to a complex story, well put together on screen. this is a classic and at worse it's oscar worthy. raul julia is outstanding in his role, he has you believing you are right there... Full review

***1/2 out of ****Exceptional, daring movie about a homosexual prisoner and a politically driven prisoner, who come to terms with their differences and start a friendship. William Hurt is brilliant as the homosexual prisoner, who's only escape from his sad... Full review

Nevertheless, although I would not champion Kiss of the Spider Woman as the best film of 1985, it is more compelling....is irritated by the man's affection for a movie he considers to be offensive.....re-creating one of his favorite movies, a Nazi melodrama, to his reluctant cell-mate.....Kiss of the Spider Woman is a fascinating character study -....the long, tortured story of how Kiss of the Spider Woman made it to the screen is as fascinating as the film itself..... ... Full Review

This is an artful film, and Hurt and Julia wanted "in" so badly that they reportedly agreed to work for nothing. If you're not into character-driven dramas and flights of fancy as substitutions for "real" plots, however, you might not care for it, because the Nazi-era story within a story involving a made-up woman called the Spider Woman (Sonia Braga) is a pastiche of WWII melodramas--as exaggerated as Molina's affectations--and those stories take up most of the film. ... Full Review

Although the story is daringly bizarre and oddly beautiful, it is the performances by the leading roles that outshine the morals of the tale.....Hurt in drag with his lingering monologues and frequent one-sided conversations is a courageous role that won him the Best Actor Oscar of 1985..... ... Full Review

I actually found the feature length documentary on the film almost as fascinating as the movie itself.....To pass the time they recollect the glamorous movies Molina has seen and slowly establish a friendship....The film also features the enchanting Sonia Braga who appears in all of Molina's stories....his great career ended regrettably with his portrayal M. Bison in the live-action Street Fighter movie.....William Hurt's character is one of the better constructed gay characters ever put on film.... ... Full Review

In Hector Babenco's brilliant 1985 drama, Kiss of the Spider Woman , the concept of individual belief runs head on into the state controlled notion of control and conformity.....As a means of escape, he makes up elaborate fantasies about fancy, fake motion pictures.....the noir-ish thriller Her Real Glory and the oddball b-movie macabre -....But that's one of the great things about Kiss of the Spider Woman .....The former was still a journeyman talent when this minor movie came along..... ... Full Review