Kiss of the Spider Woman (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
Oct 7
3 min read

KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN (2025)

Starring Diego Luna, Tonatiuh, Jennifer Lopez, Tony Dovolani, Josefina Scaglione, Bruno Bichir, Aline Mayagoitia, Kevin Michael Brennan, Thomas Canestraro, Eduardo Ramos, David Turner, Lynn Favin, Odain Watson, Lucila Gandolfo, Federico Repetto, Lucas Barreiro, Augusto Gordillo, Fabio Aste, Graciela Daniele, Federico Salles and Alejandro Ernesto Balbis Ortiz.

Screenplay by Bill Condon.

Directed by Bill Condon.

Distributed by Roadside Attractions. 123 minutes. Rated R.

I have to admit, I didn’t think that the terrific 1985 dramatic film Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring William Hurt and Raul Julia, could be made into a musical. Yes, I knew the musical was staged on Broadway and had become something of a hit in the 1990s. But still, could it be turned into a musical film after all these years?

Well, I take it all back. Kiss of the Spider Woman works surprisingly well in this context. It’s not as good as the original film (well, at least except for in one aspect, but more on that later), but it still works.

The story is rather simple. In 1980s Argentina is in the middle of a savage military junta in which the army is imprisoning and torturing many of its citizens. Stuck together in a jail cell are Valentin (Diego Luna), a tough revolutionary who is being targeted for his knowledge of the rebels, and Molina (Tonatiuh) who is in jail because he is a gay man who was caught in the act of having sex in a rest room. (Interesting socio-political point, in the original film and the 1976 novel it was based upon, Molina’s sex partner was a minor, but this particular ugly plot point is dropped in the updated version, which sands off some of the source material’s rougher edges.)

They are very different men and view each other with skepticism – particularly Valentin towards Molina. However, as they experience the atrocities of the jail together, they form a bond, a grudging friendship which steadily becomes deeper.

In order to pass the time and escape the horrors of the jail, Molina spends a lot of time telling Valentin about his favorite film, an old musical called Kiss of the Spider Woman. This old film is created here, with Jennifer Lopez playing the actress who is the star of the film, the lead character of the film and the Spider Woman, the evil spirit who craves a kiss from a man, even though she knows that it will kill him.

Interestingly, if anything the movie fantasy scenes actually work better in this film than in the 1985 variation. In this film, the main characters are introduced into the old-fashioned film as characters, and it somewhat mirrors their wants, needs and eventual directions. In the older film the description of the film was a bit more random and removed from the main plotline.

The film bounces back and forth from the technicolor melodrama of the old film to the stark horror of the characters’ current situations and the world surrounding them.

First things first – Tonatiuh, who I had previously only seen in a supporting role in a somewhat forgettable Netflix action film called Carry-On with Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman – is incredible in this role. If this does not lead to more work, then something is wrong.

Jennifer Lopez also definitely connects to this role and this project in a way that she rarely has on screen. Faint praise, I know, but she is actually very good in all three variations of her role, and she is able to use her singing and dancing skills extremely well.

Diego Luna is the only one of the leads who occasionally feels a bit off – he won’t make anyone forget Raul Julia’s powerful reading of the same character in the original film. Still, Luna does have some very strong moments mixed in, and while he’s not quite as good a singer and dancer as his co-stars, he holds his own.

I’m not going to lie; Kiss of the Spider Woman has a bit of a niche appeal that may be a hard sell in this current world climate. However, I hope people give it a chance, it certainly has some interesting things to say.

Jay S. Jacobs