I have not seen a stage version of the Kander & Ebb musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. I have seen clips of the musical numbers starring Chita Rivera, and she was wonderful. I also took the opportunity to see the original 1985 version of the story before going to see the film adaptation of the musical adaptation of the original 1985 film. Kiss of the Spider Woman is not a bad film. It is actually rather restrained when it comes to musicals. It is also too long and slightly disjointed.
Argentina, May 1983. Prisoner Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) is transferred to the prison block reserved for political opponents. He is apolitical, with his crime being one of public indecency (or rather, for being openly gay). Now, he has to share a cell with Valentin Arregui (Diego Luna), a fiery and cranky revolutionary. Valentin wants nothing but quiet to read his Lenin biography and think. Molina, however, wants to talk about his favorite film: Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Valentin initially has no interest in this glossy, Technicolor musical from Hollywood's Golden Age. However, he soon starts to pay more attention to Molina's recitation of the story. In this faux film, the central character is played by the beautiful actress Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez). She plays the role of Aurora, editor of Charm Magazine. She, despite herself, has finally found love with photographer Armando (Luna in a dual role). Displeased by this romance is Aurora's right-hand man, Kendall Nesbitt (Tonatiuh in a dual role). The Aurora/Armando love affair, however, has a curious threat. It is the Spider Woman (Lopez in a third role). She protects Aurora's hometown which is on the jungle's edge. However, she requires a sacrifice of a local villager's lover. It is time for the sacrifice, and Armando is the intended target.
It is not just Armando who is the intended target. Molina is tasked by the Warden (Bruno Bichir) to pump Valentin for information about his fellow revolutionaries. In exchange, the Warden will ease the path for Molina to get an early release. Molina goes along with this if it gives him a chance to see his ill mother again. However, Molina is conflicted by both his actions and his feelings for Valentin. Inevitably, Molina does get to pump Valentin for more than information.
While ultimately failing to get the information that the Warden wants, Molina's early parole is granted. Valentin does give Molina information and a parting love session. Molina, it is hoped, will make contact with the revolutionaries, and none too soon. Argentina is on the cusp of having its military junta overthrown. Will Molina have his Hollywood ending or will he end up being kissed by the spider woman?
In perhaps the oddest critique of Kiss of the Spider Woman, I could not help wondering about the name that the fictional version of Molina has in the faux film. Kendall Nesbitt. Again, I have not seen a stage production of Kiss of the Spider Woman. However, I am going to take it on faith that writer/director Bill Condon adapted Terrence McNally's book faithfully. As such, it was McNally who wrote "Kendall Nesbitt" for the alternate version of Molina.
Why such a curious name? I have no way of knowing outside of a seance. However, the name "Kendall Nesbitt" was used before in of all things, a Golden Girls episode. "Kendall Nesbitt" is the museum director that the character of Blanche Devereaux was bizarrely accused of murdering in the Season Seven episode The Case of the Libertine Bell. Every time Tonatiuh appeared as "Kendall Nesbitt", all I could think was that McNally was literally watching The Golden Girls and just pinched the name for the John Kander & Fred Ebb musical. Forgive my dubiousness, but it seems a wild coincidence that "Kendall Nesbitt" can appear on both The Golden Girls in 1991 and Kiss of the Spider Woman two years later.
Again, I get that this is a very bizarre tangent to go on. However, why "Kendall Nesbitt"?
Putting aside the "Kendall Nesbitt" bit, let us look at the film itself. Bill Condon clearly drew from classic Hollywood musicals. I could see elements of Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon in some of the musical numbers. The Gimme Love number seemed to echo parts of the former's Gotta Dance and the latter's Girl Hunt Ballet numbers. Oddly, that would make J-Lo the Cyd Charisse of Kiss of the Spider Woman.
To be fair, part of this is not J-Lo's fault. I found some of the staging to be clunky. Of particular note is the Where You Are number. This takes place in the faux film where Molina transitions from his story to his visualizing of it. I was rather disappointed that we did not get the full body in some of the dancing. The end result is a pretty unimaginative number that I do not think would work in the fake film and does not work in our film.
Even worse is the title number. One would think that a film version would be more glamorous and visual than the original stage adaptation. However, Kiss of the Spider Woman looked cheap. Again, I get that I figure Conlon was going for a 1940's-1950's style where the budgets might not have been so big. However, it felt like a wasted opportunity. Lopez does not really act in the film. She is there mostly for the musical numbers. I know that Ingrid Luna's acting was intended to be a bit broader than what we would see. It does not mean that I accepted it.
Much better were Tonatiuh and Diego Luna. I did wonder exactly why Diego Luna is singing and dancing. He was not terrible in either. After all, he had danced in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Luna to his credit did not embarrass himself. He carried the musical numbers and acting well, if not great. However, when Molina describes Luna's Armando as "tall, dark and handsome", the first two are not terms that I would use to describe Diego Luna. He is hardly dark. Also, while he is officially 5'10", somehow, he still looks shorter than that on screen.
Curiously, whenever he was Kendall Nesbitt, Tonatiuh looked better than either when he was playing Molina or compared to Luna in any version. He looks worse at his closing number, Only in the Movies, where he is in drag. Make of that what you will.
Kiss of the Spider Woman also did not fully make the connection between the fake film and the real-life goings-on. It tried, but it did not fully succeed. Oddly, it was the characters commenting on the similarities between the fake Kiss of the Spider Woman and their lives that made it look less real.
The songs were pretty good. It is hard to go wrong when the musical is from John Kander and Fred Ebb. I do not know if any new songs were written or could have been, given that Fred Ebb died in 2004. Only in the Movies is a solid number, if perhaps a bit overstaged. Both I'll Dance Alone, one of the early numbers, and Molina's solo number She's a Woman are also good. It is unfortunate that this adaptation opted to drop any songs that took place outside the fantasy numbers. I get why that decision was made. This has been the trend of film adaptations of musicals, curiously enough, since another Kander & Ebb musical: Chicago.
I, however, have no trouble accepting the illogic of people breaking out into song. I do hope to see musicals unafraid to embrace its old school conventions.
Kiss of the Spider Woman is not a bad film. It just could have been more.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Views are always welcome, but I would ask that no vulgarity be used. Any posts that contain foul language or are bigoted in any way will not be posted.
Thank you.