So after all these months, David Cronenberg's SPIDER finally... FINALLY makes it over to our local "arthouse."
I try to make the first show. Big mistake at this theatre--if you try to catch the first show on the first day, you run the risk of being told "Well, they didn't get it to us in time--it's not ready to run yet..."
THREE times that's happened to me there now.
Okay--don't get another chance till the Sunday matinee. THIS time, it's actually playing.
Very intense, disturbing film. Truly horrific flashbacks detailing a nightmarish domestic situation that (quite understandably) screws a young boy's mind over.
Utterly top-notch direction. And the acting? Put Ralph Fiennes up there with Cronenberg's mind-blowingly impressive list of male leads... Oliver Reed, Patrick McGoohan, James Woods, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Jeremy Irons (twice), James Spader... okay, I'm embarrassed--I forget off the top of my head who played off Jennifer Jason Leigh in eXistenZ (or however the hell they spelled that one). But no matter... even though they opened SPIDER in late December to catch the eye of the Academy, they kept their blinders on (what a surprise--they passed over Jeremy Irons for DEAD RINGERS, remember? and when they gave him the award for REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, he thanked CRONENBERG?).
Nevertheless, as I watched SPIDER, I felt much the way I did with IN THE BEDROOM and MONSTERS BALL... that is, sure, it's incredibly well done, but it's depressing as hell, and why exactly do I want to subject myself to this?
Ah, but about an hour into the film, I discover just what makes this a David Cronenberg film--and yes, I can see where he's going with it...
...and then the motherfucking projector breaks down, costing me the last twenty minutes of the film.
Yep, just like CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND. Same theatre--different projector.
Tell you what--I'll try again tomorrow--I'll take my "emergency pass" and take a little time out of the workday and try to catch the last twenty minutes of SPIDER. But the mood's already been ruined.
I have to give the Osio Cinema a little bit of leeway--it was there that we premiered FLESH EATERS, after all. But it was under different management then, so they can't count on my loyalty forever.
If I demand a SPIDER spoiler later this week, you'll know just why.
