Kiss of the Spider Woman
by Hector Babenco
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Product details
Actor: Jos? Lewgoy, Milton Gon?alves, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, William HurtDirector: Hector Babenco
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language); Portuguese (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 120 minutes
Release Date: 1995-11-14
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Polygram Video
Studio: Polygram Video
VHS Movie Reviews of Kiss of the Spider Woman
Movie Review: Classic beauty
Summary: 5 Stars
I still wonder what took so long for the studios to release such a great piece of art. I am so happy to have this film in my collection. The documentary is very good and it took me back to the eighties when it was actually made. I remember purchasing the book by Manuel Puig long before the rights were sold to the studios and when it actually happened I could not believe I would be able to see Molina in flesh and blood. William Hurt was a promising actor and we now still enjoy his presence in many movies. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Raul Julia who died some time ago. So lovely and powerful and I must say, a great loss. I miss him a lot. Sonia Braga looks fabulous and she still is: a Brazilian Muse for all to see. "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is and stays a classic beauty. A story about love and conviction that will never loose its charm, poetry and most of all, a sense of being human.Movie Review: Wonderful Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Great, thought proking movie. A well deserved Oscar for William Hurt and great performance by the late, wonderful Raul Julia. Movie Review: Spider Woman on Blu-ray
Summary: 5 Stars
I can honestly say after all these years of watching a crummy VHS copy of *Kiss Of The Spider Woman* that I never thought I''d see the film finally hit DVD. To my surprise it jumped to Blu-ray too. Quick note before the Blu-ray review. The two disc standard DVD edition is selling for 34 dollars exclusively on Amazon. While the Blu-ray edition is selling for only 27 dollars exclusively on Amazon. Both editions include the exact same features except the Blu-ray is of course in 1080p HD. If you've got a blu-ray player, it's a no brainer which one to buy.
The Blu-ray image for *Kiss Of The Spider Woman* is good. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best. I'd give this a 2.5 to 3. The image is not perfect. This is a very low budget film made in the early 80's. The print source has clearly not been kept in the best of conditions. I suppose they did the best they could restoring it. There are scratch marks every once in a while. Not a lot, but enough to notice. There's usually presence of grain through out the entire film. This is to be expected though. Grain is simply a natural element seen in most movies. Blu-ray just makes it clearer now. Lets talk about the positive now. The color is fantastic. This is such a gritty and dark film that I was surprised by how much the color stuck out. The film uses a lot of natural lighting. William Hurt's red lipstick or his red dress really stick out. Even the dirt and grime in the corner of the jail cell. This is where Blu-ray clearly shows it's superiority. The image is surprisingly sharp. I thought the image would be soft, but it wasn't. This is probably the best the film has looked since it's theatrical release. Like I said, this film is dark and gritty and takes place inside a jail cell for the most part.
I'll post a screenshot comparison from the Blu-ray and my original VHS. Even though it will be from a TV screen with my digital camera thus reducing the quality. You'll clearly be able to see the color difference between the two. Though I haven't viewed the standard DVD edition to compare. Anyone who's watched a few quality Blu-ray can tell you that this is certainly going to look better then it's standard DVD counterpart. The biggest difference will be the flesh tones IMO. On this Blu-ray they simply look great and natural. Colors are brighter. Details are a little more clearer.
The special features are the same on both editions. The *Tangled Web* making of documentary runs a lengthy 1 hour and 48 minutes. It's packed with interviews form everyone involved. It's really the best fans could ask for. It's packed with info. There's also three shorter featurettes titled *Manuel Puig: The Submissive Woman's Role* (9 minutes) Making The Musical: Spider Woman On Broadway (11 minutes) From Novel To Film (36 minutes) So almost another hour of making of material. There's also a trivia track, a photo gallery, and trailers. The 4 docs is where the meat is. All the special features are presented in 480 standard definition BTW.
What about the film though? The only thing I can compare it to is Brokeback Mountain, Midnight Express, or Papillon. It's about a gay window dresser bonding with a revolutionist in a Latin American prison. Odds are if you didn't want to see Brokeback Mountain then you won't want to see this. Hopefully you give it a shot though. *Spider Woman* takes it's time with it's two leading characters. Which is a very good thing because William Hurt and Raul Julia give two of their finest performances. They ARE these characters. We see there relationship grow form the beginning all the way to haunting ending. I wouldn't really call it a love story, but it's certainly about a very strong friendship. If it weren't for Kurosawa's *Ikiru* I'd probably call this the best character study on film. Yes, it's that good.
The Film: 5 / 5
Special Features: 4.5 / 5
Blu-ray Picture Quality: 2.5-3 / 5
Movie Review: KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN 2 DISC EXCLUSIVE EDITION
Summary: 5 Stars
THE MOVIE IS QUITE GRIM. BUT THATS ONLY ON THE SURFACE.HURTS AND JULIAS PERFORMANCES ARE MIND BOGGLING. THEY LITERALY SUCK YOU INTO THE MOVIE . WILLIAM HURT IS DRFINATLY GAY. WHILE RAUL JULIAS IS A POLITICAL PRISONER. THEY COULDNT BE MORE OPPOSITE. BUT THATS THE BEAUTY OF THE FILM MAINLY JULIAS ACCEPTANCE of THE GAY HURT. THE EXTRAS ON THE SECOND DISK ARE FANTASTIC I WOULD RECOMEND THIS. IF YOU HAVE PREJUCES IN GAYS I ENCOURAGE YOU TO SEE THIS. AND YOU WILL FIND THAT THE HUMAN SPIRIT IS AT WORK HERE. THIS MOVIE MAY NOT BE FOR EVERYONE' BUT IF YOU LIKE GREAT ACTING, AND TWO PEOPLE MOST OF THE MOVIE TRAPPED IN A PRISON CELL. GIVE IT A LOOK. 5 STARS.Movie Review: very disappointing transfer quality
Summary: 1 Stars
I am delighted to finally have this movie in my movie collection again. I have sorely missed this title since I got rid of my laserdiscs. But I am shocked by the quality of the transfer. I consider my standards low - I have been thrilled with the quality of some titles that have been poorly reviewed by those with higher standards, like reviewers at dvdfile and highdefdigest. But I was truly shocked by this title. I am sure that my laser looked better. And this is a blu-ray! Still, I am thrilled to at least have the film, and the documentary included is outstanding. I do hope that this title receives the attention of professional reviewers. Consumers need to be warned by voices they trust.
Summary of Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman starts out simply enough, hemmed in by the narrow walls of a Latin American prison cell. Molina (William Hurt) is telling his new cellmate, Valentin (Raul Julia), his favorite story. Molina is a delicate homosexual imprisoned for seducing a minor; Valentin is a bearded revolutionary still bleeding from his interrogation. If their film unfolded into the typical prison buddy plot, it'd still be a good movie. But this is a great movie. There are stories twisting within stories, each drawing a new, surprising level of difference between the two heroes: escapism versus realism, romance versus politics, gay versus straight, hero versus coward. As their unstable friendship grows more real, their stories become more vivid--whether Molina's fondly remembered Nazi propaganda noir, Valentin's tortured romantic history, or a tropical island fable told merely to pass the time. (Each substory stars Sonia Braga, a neat bit of casting that further blurs the line between fantasy and reality.) By the end, each man has changed just enough to taste the other's tragedy--a transformation that gives each the strength to define freedom on his own terms, despite the brutality of the prison and the bleak world beyond its walls. --Grant BalfourGeneral Video
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