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Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002)
Cronenberg's low-key, but haunting treatment of mental illness begins slowly but gradually draws you into the story of a man nicknamed Spider (Ralph Fiennes) who's released from a mental hospital and enters a halfway house run by Mrs. Wilkinson (Lynn Redgrave). The halfway house is populated by many disturbed men; in fact, the only discernable difference between the "house" and a "hospital" is that there is no treatment in the "house". Spider is able to function at a seemingly-higher level than the other ex-patients though, and soon, he's roaming the streets of his hometown from twenty years ago, just about the time his psychosis first appeared when he was a boy. In fact, Spider begins to "see" not only himself as a boy (played by Bradley Hall) 20 years earlier, but his hard-drinking father (Gabriel Byrne) and housewife mother (Miranda Richardson). And then, there's that blonde tramp (also Miranda Richardson) who may be trying to steal the husband or may not even be real at all...
Like many of Cronenberg's films, Spider is open to interpretation and undoubtedly rewards added viewings for those who are able to get past the slow pace and the depressing surroundings. Cronenberg doesn't really make easy films, and this one begins especially "difficultly", but things begin to clarify about 30-40 minutes in and it becomes more interesting. The best parts to me are trying to determine which parts are real, which parts are imagined and which parts could even be both. I also liked the fact that Spider kept a journal of everything which went on in his day-to-day life, but since it's written in some original language of his own making, no one can understand it except for himself. It's similar to the way that Spider often mumbles something which the viewer cannot understand because it's either too low in volume or doesn't even seem to be real words. Some people may not understand and care about Spider while others will "enjoy" it for probably the same reasons. I probably fall somewhere in the middle ground.
Cronenberg's low-key, but haunting treatment of mental illness begins slowly but gradually draws you into the story of a man nicknamed Spider (Ralph Fiennes) who's released from a mental hospital and enters a halfway house run by Mrs. Wilkinson (Lynn Redgrave). The halfway house is populated by many disturbed men; in fact, the only discernable difference between the "house" and a "hospital" is that there is no treatment in the "house". Spider is able to function at a seemingly-higher level than the other ex-patients though, and soon, he's roaming the streets of his hometown from twenty years ago, just about the time his psychosis first appeared when he was a boy. In fact, Spider begins to "see" not only himself as a boy (played by Bradley Hall) 20 years earlier, but his hard-drinking father (Gabriel Byrne) and housewife mother (Miranda Richardson). And then, there's that blonde tramp (also Miranda Richardson) who may be trying to steal the husband or may not even be real at all...
Like many of Cronenberg's films, Spider is open to interpretation and undoubtedly rewards added viewings for those who are able to get past the slow pace and the depressing surroundings. Cronenberg doesn't really make easy films, and this one begins especially "difficultly", but things begin to clarify about 30-40 minutes in and it becomes more interesting. The best parts to me are trying to determine which parts are real, which parts are imagined and which parts could even be both. I also liked the fact that Spider kept a journal of everything which went on in his day-to-day life, but since it's written in some original language of his own making, no one can understand it except for himself. It's similar to the way that Spider often mumbles something which the viewer cannot understand because it's either too low in volume or doesn't even seem to be real words. Some people may not understand and care about Spider while others will "enjoy" it for probably the same reasons. I probably fall somewhere in the middle ground.