08/16/06 Spider

Spider (2002), directed by David Cronenberg

watched solo; DVD rental (Blockbuster) @ car ride (Lincoln, Ontario; from Syracuse, NY to Conklin, NY); suggested by Jason

Considering that this was my first ever jaunt into Canada, I wanted to represent (and partially watch while we ate breakfast) a film by a native or set in this wonderful country of hockey, maple leaves, and free health care. In my rush to pack for the road trip, I perhaps didn't research quite as extensively about it as I could have...but Jason suggested to me one of the finest (and weirdest) Canadians to ever walk the cinematic planet. Yes, Cronenberg was the pick to represent the Canucks...for better or worse. I have been wanting forever to watch his adaptation of "Naked Lunch," and remake of "The Fly," but settled on another off-the-radar bit called "Spider." You know when you're getting into a Cronenberg story, you'll be hitting some rather odd speedbumps along the way...more than likely being left disturbed or intrigued to some fetish fixation. So, that is precisely what I got here with this film. His direction and sense of mood are uncanny, yet this particular plot made me a little too muddled to enjoy it. Ralph Fiennes plays Dennis "Spider" Cleg, who as a thiry-something old man is being released back into society after years in a mental institution to treat his acute schizophrenia. After leaving the institution, Spider attempts to piece his fragile life together, and enlists residency in a halfway house in London. There, with the crazy characters he lives with and a strict Nurse Rathced-type, Spider begins to relive his suppressed memories of his mother's death and disturbed childhood. In his dreams/memories, Spider reenacts how Oedipal his relationship with his mother (Miranda Richardson) was, how he hated his father (Gabriel Byrne) whom he held responsible for her murder, and his sexual nature based upon habits of the tramps in the local tavern. This kid has got some serious serious issues. Now, as an adult, those issues have never been fully healed...so he is left to his incoherent ramblings in his journal, and his bundle of neuroses to guide him through an abnormal life. Again, the tone set by the filming and cinematography is great...there is solid acting (albeit it's not hard to act completely insane I would think...just get someone drunk enough)...but overall I thought it was a pretty average attempt at mental disorders. I mean, Cronenberg has got to be one of the kings of movie mental disorders...blame Canada.

3 out of 5 stars