Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel, “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” and its Oscar-winning 1985 movie adaptation both posited that the memory of your favorite movies can serve as a salve in the most brutal of circumstances. Puig’s story took place in a prison cell in Argentina, where Valentin, a political prisoner, becomes engrossed in stories his cellmate, Luis Molina, a gay window dresser, tells about his most beloved pieces of cinema.
Unbeknownst to Valentin, Molina is an informer placed in Valentin’s cell to get information he can report to the corrupt officials Valentin wants to overthrow. Trapped in their own versions of hell, the men grow closer in part because the movies Molina describes serve as a shared distraction.
Tonatiuh and Diego Luna in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”Roadside Attractions
In 1993, a musical version of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” opened on Broadway, earning Tonys for best musical, the score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and actress Chita Rivera, who played the titular arachnid-human hybrid who haunted Molina’s movie memories. By setting the story to music, Kander and Ebb added an even bigger catalyst for emotional response: the song. Hearing your favorite song can transport your head and heart back to a specific moment in time, allowing you to revisit it in an instant.
Art can serve as a willful delusion that soothes the spectator. That’s one of the themes of every iteration of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” including Bill Condon’s new adaptation of the Broadway musical starring Jenny from the Block herself, Jennifer Lopez. J.Lo is no Chita Rivera, but having witnessed both in the role of Aurora, the protagonist of the fictional movie musical within the musical, I can attest that Lopez is nothing short of superb.
“I hate musicals,” says this movie’s Valentin (Diego Luna) to Molina (Tonatiuh). “I pity you,” Molina retorts. I agree with Molina. If I could be trapped in any movie genre, I’d prefer a film noir. But if all the private dick jobs are taken, entomb me in an MGM musical. Extra points if I can roar in the logo beforehand.
Tonatiuh in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”Roadside Attractions
Despite his disdain, Valentin becomes invested in Molina’s retelling, mostly to pass the time, or to recover from his beatings. Molina seals himself and Valentin in his version of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” imagining them in roles played by the original stars. Molina is Kendall, Aurora’s gay-coded BFF. According to Molina, the real actor was a closeted homosexual who “butched up the role” and ruined it. Valentin is Armando, the suave, pencil-mustached Latin lover wooing Aurora and running afoul of the mysterious Spider Woman, whose kiss brings death through sacrifice.
As writer and director, Condon does a commendable job of handling the film’s tonal shifts from gruesome real-life brutality to musical flights of fancy shot in gorgeous Technicolor. This duality has precedent in the films of the late British writer, Dennis Potter (“Pennies from Heaven”), who would have been more ruthless with this material’s politics, for sure.
However, this isn’t Condon’s first brush with maintaining such a precarious balance, nor is “Kiss of the Spider Woman” his first Kander and Ebb rodeo. In 2002, Condon adapted Bob Fosse’s 1975 Broadway masterpiece, “Chicago” (which, coincidentally, also featured a role created by Chita Rivera) for director Rob Marshall’s Oscar-winning best picture.
As in that film, Condon sets the musical numbers in the minds of the characters, giving him poetic license to stage whatever he wants. The film propels his three leads through a history of movie musicals that any diehard lover of the genre would recognize. There are flashes of Fosse, a modicum of Vincente Minnelli, and a soupçon of Stanley Donen. We’re reminded of Judy Garland in “Summer Stock” and Fred Astaire in “The Band Wagon.”
Armed with Colleen Atwood’s stunning costumes and the eye-popping color cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Condon’s “Dreamgirls,”) “Kiss of the Spider Woman” engages in delectable, incontrovertible overkill. I’d wager that the real movie Molina saw hewed closer to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” than “An American in Paris,” but it’s his retelling, so we must abide by his rules.
Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”Roadside Attractions
Considering his roles in dramas like Alfonso Cuarón’s “Y tú mamá también” and the Star Wars prequel series “Andor,” it’s a surprise to see how well Luna sings and dances. His Valentin seems a bit stagy at times, but Armando is liquid movie magic; he’s sexy and refined in contrast to the scraggly and defiant revolutionary trapped in a cell.
Tonatiuh brings an angelic voice to Aurora’s jealous sidekick Kendall. They also provide a bittersweet complexity to Molina, whom the film refers to as “he” while heavily implying that Molina is a trans woman. In fact, Molina’s climactic musical number envisions him as a woman with the unimpeachable grace of his beloved Aurora.
Tonatiuh and Jennifer Lopez in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”Roadside Attractions
As for Lopez, this is the star turn she was born to play. She makes Sergio Trujillo’s choreography look effortless. Her looks range from the extreme Louise Brooks bob of her spider-costumed title character to a coif so blonde that it glows. She leads a veritable fashion show, and she nails every song in what is often considered a lesser Kander and Ebb score.
Watching J.Lo make movie magic for the captive audience on both sides of the screen reminded me why I watch movies, and how revisiting my favorite films has kept me sane and happy in this bitter little world.
★★★1/2
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
Written and directed by Bill Condon. Based on the musical by Terrence McNally, John Kander, Fred Ebb. Starring Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna, Tonatiuh. At Dedham Community Theatre, AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 128 min. R (prison brutality, sex, slurs, J. Lo in a web)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s film critic.
