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Clothes maketh the man and the less there is of the man, the more the need of the clothes.
David Cronenberg has had a fascinating career and it’s interesting to see how he’s progressed from low-budget horror films with creatures and exploding heads to more internalized horror and creepiness. With Spider, Cronenberg shows us the world of a recently-released mental patient brilliantly played by Ralph Fiennes. Spider is a broken man and Fiennes looks as though he is only being held together by the clothes that he wears. He barely speaks or looks at anyone in the film, but he is compelling to watch. The film is meticulous with production design that captures the sense that things are just a bit off. It seems to be set in contemporary times, but time and place seems to blend together and we’re never really sure exactly where or when we are. It’s an odd, subtle film that can be as enigmatic as the scribbles that Spider makes in his notebook.
technorati tags: film, review, spider, cronenberg
