List Price: $34.98You Pay Only: $22.99 You Save: $11.99 (34%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0897246001560
Format: Widescreen, NTSC
Label: City Lights Pictures, Independent Cinema Restorative Archive
Manufacturer: City Lights Pictures, Independent Cinema Restorative Archive
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: City Lights Pictures, Independent Cinema Restorative Archive
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Running Time: 300 minutes
Sales Rank: 7318
Studio: City Lights Pictures, Independent Cinema Restorative Archive
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
This groundbreaking film (the first independent ever to receive the top four Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Hector Babenco), adapted for the screen by Academy Award nominated screenwriter Leonard Schrader from Manuel Puig's novel set in a non-specific Latin American country, takes a penetrating look at the role of sex and politics under an oppressive right-wing regime. The timeless story, more relevant today than ever, follows the complex relationship between two distinctly different men with opposite views about life - building with powerful emotional crescendo as they gradually come together in a stunningly transcendental conclusion. Hurt delivers his Oscar-winning performance in this captivating tribute to the power of film and fantasy as escape from inhumane conditions.
Run time: 121 minutes
Tangled Web: Making Kiss of the Spider Woman
A strange odyssey from novel to film is chronicled in Tangled Web: Making Kiss of the Spider Woman. Creative team Manuel Puig, William Hurt, Hector Babenco, David Weisman, Leonard Schrader, and Raul Julia confess the daunting challenge and profound satisfaction of creating this watershed film - which almost never made it to the big screen. Burt Lancaster's mysterious obsession, director Babenco's epic struggle with author Puig, the birth of today's independent cinema - all play parts in the startling saga of this timeless gem. Filmmaker David Weisman's Tangled Web captures the many unique and emotional moments that serendipitously turned this courageous movie into a masterpiece.
Run time: 109 minutes
Amazon.com:
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 Balfour
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The most delicate of kisses...
There are few films that are able to hold your interest with a simple conversation. Most movies pack on the action and suspense and travel from scenic route to scenic route in an attempt to strap you to your seat in excitement. It is truly a rare gem, a special treat, when one is able to just sit back and watch life unfold in the simplest yet most heartfelt of manners.
That is just what happens in `Kiss of the Spider Woman'.
The film opens with imprisoned homosexual Luis Molina telling a vivid story to his cellmate, Valentin Arregui. Molina acts out each scene in detail, and he croons over each and every word; his eyes lighting up as he reenacts the heroine's gown. Valentin is less than impressed, at least it would seem. Luis has been imprisoned for seducing a minor; Valentin is a political prisoner. The two couldn't be more different, yet the two of them form a bond behind these prison walls that is unlike any you or I have experienced on screen before.
The film rarely leaves the confines of the cell, departing from time to time to tell us a story (Luis likes to explain his favorite movie in great detail to help pass the time) but the film never comes off as boring. The relationship building between Molina and Arregui is enough to hold our interest for far longer than the films running time even, so don't be afraid that its small space will lead to early retirement.
William Hurt and Raul Julia are flawlessly compatible and brilliantly ... Read More
Rating:  - Kiss of the Spider Woman Review from The Massie Twins
To each his own form of escape. For political prisoner Valentin it is a dream of freedom with the woman he loves; for cellmate Luis it is to gain a sense of higher purpose by becoming involved with a selfless cause for a love he can never have. In Kiss of the Spider Woman film is an escape on two levels - a momentary reverie from inhuman conditions in a nondescript bastille and as pure cinematic escapism for the viewer who can become lost in a movie of thought-provoking fantasy and film-within-a-film parallels.
Luis Molina (William Hurt) is a [....] window dresser, now a convict in an undefined Latin American prison (marked simply with the name Pavilhao IV), locked away for corrupting a minor. His cellmate is Valentin Arregui (Raul Julia), a journalist revolutionary detained and tortured for his political ties. At first Valentin is annoyed by Molina's fanciful attitude as the two men clearly have opposite life views, but eventually grows to depend on his kindness - a complex relationship that becomes even more intricate when Luis begins to fall in love.
Molina passes the time by telling the story of one of his favorite films, a German propaganda feature that finds distracted singer Leni (Sonia Braga) falling for an enemy Nazi soldier, confused about whether to continue aiding the French Resistance with a plot to steal a secret map to a German arsenal, or trusting in the man she loves. As her story progresses, Molina's real life begins to imitate the embroidered fiction of ... Read More
Rating: - Classic beauty
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.
Rating: - Wonderful Movie
Great, thought proking movie. A well deserved Oscar for William Hurt and great performance by the late, wonderful Raul Julia.
Rating: - Spider Woman on Blu-ray
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. ... Read More
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