Monday, November 23, 2020

Spider - 2002

I remember working at my lil' theater and having the Spider poster on the wall. I was excited because it was David Cronenberg and the title was creepy, and I was in prime Cronenberg mood at the time. I don't remember if we ever played the movie or not, but this was my introduction to it.

I remember that when I saw Spider, I was very disappointed. Now, I will also say that it is likely I partially conflated this movie with something else, some unknown "other very strange" film. I remembered Ralph Fiennes character character having gross physical deformities and being a lot more of a twisted, arcane character. I'm wondering what movie I would've confused this for that DID have the imagery I remember, because whatever that movie is I want to rewatch it too.

Spider is the story of Ralph Fiennes as a weird, mentally impaired man. He is a mystery, a mentally challenged individual but high functioning and 100% we know there is aome "reason" for him acting the way he does. He arrives at a home for people with mental problems early on and makes his way towards an existence there. As the story unfolds we begin to see the genesis to his problems, how he got the way he is. Turns out his parents were having many relationship difficulties when he was young, leading towards a fight...

Spider is one of those movies where I want to go through each little plot part, not because of how interesting or cool it was, but because with the simple sotry outline above you might think it's about some certain thing, while it is about many other things too. It all boils down to a slow burn story of mental illness, of fucked up childhood, of many other things.

Coupled with the plot, we have a great acting by all around and some cool imagery. But overall I didn't think this was great. I guess I'm trying to remove it from the "Cronenberg filter" in my head. I'm trying to look at it like a movie, and not "a Cronenberg movie". But either way, it feels a bit incomplete. It feels a bit lacking, and not just from the vague ending. I get it, it's a dark and fragmented story open to interpretation, but it still didn't feel "all there".

Hm. I dunno. I'll give it 3 stars.

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