Britain seems to be a rather popular country for the
moment in Hollywood: the latest big releases (Harry
Potter and 007) are based in it, and you can't tell me
that Peter Jackson's Middle Earth accents in The Two
Towers are completely alien to the West Country (and
other parts) of the British Isles.
Indeed, David
Cronenberg, whose films include Videodrome, Crash,
Existenz and The Fly, amongst others, has turned from
his native Canada to London for his latest offering, Spider.
Spider tells the story of a man in his 40s nicknamed
Spider, played by Ralph Fiennes, who is released from
a mental asylum, and sent to a half-way house in the
East End of London, an institution run by the strict
maternal Mrs Wilkinson (played by an equally strict
and maternal Lynn Redgrave, in fine form).
Once back
in London, Spider starts to relive the memories of his childhood, and in
doing so comes to terms with the way his life has lived itself. He sees
himself as a child again, reliving the death of his mother (played by
Miranda Richardson) at the hands of his drunken father, who has committed
the crime so that his mistress, a prostitute named Yvonne, can join him as a
live-in lover, and his subsequent revenge on the couple.
The film is not happy viewing, yet it would be unfair
to avoid the film for this reason. Cronenberg has been directing
quasi-horror films for many years, and Spider sees him as a master of his
craft- in his own way he should be regarded as an equal to the polished
escapist modes of Speilberg and the pschycological torments of Hitchcock. He
knows exactly what he sets out to do, and delivers it accurately without
difficulty and with only a hint of pretention.
I had difficulty shaking off the feeling at the start
of the film that Fiennes was a Hollywood actor trying
to revive his career by appearing as a mentally
unstable character in an independent film.
Yet his
performance quickly dispelled any qualms I had about
his casting, and throughout he gives a fantastically
acute performance reminiscent of Billy Bob Thornton's
arresting portrayal of a similar character in Sling
Blade. He is absolutely electrifying, and it is easy
to make the comparison between the adult Spider, and
Spider as a boy (played by 10-year-old newcomer
Bradley Hall, who portrays his character amazingly
well and whose character is possibly the backbone of
the story that unfolds, a task which Hall convincingly shoulders).
The ensemble acting is that of seasoned professionals,
all masters of their craft, and the story envelops the
audience as it unfolds. Howard Shore's atmospheric
soundtrack completes what amounts to a terrific
movie.
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