Spider (2002)

Spider: Directed by David Cronenberg. With Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne, Lynn Redgrave. A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.

“After seeing every single Cronenberg film Iu0026#39;ve been able to find, Iu0026#39;ve come to one simple conclusion: Iu0026#39;ve seen entirely too little of his works. I have yet to see one film of his that I found a complete waste of time(though I did not find much point in The Brood). This is quite possibly my favorite film of his yet, and I guess that says something about how few of his films Iu0026#39;ve seen(as this seems like one of his more unappreciated films). The film is quite dark and bleak. It has a fairly slow pace, but thereu0026#39;s plenty of atmosphere and I never really felt like turning it off. The plot is very good, and I liked the way it developed somewhat out of joint, with little continuity other than the main plot-line. The acting is superb. One actress performs two roles, and does so with such talent that I never realized they were being portrayed by one and the same person. I only discovered this after checking out the cast list. Spider is a very unsettling film, but I suppose Cronenberg has done far better in other films. For some reason, I just found this the more easily accessible of his films, the one that requires least afterthought to be understood, to decipher what he wanted to say. All of the other films by him that Iu0026#39;ve seen, Iu0026#39;ve required to basically u0026#39;be toldu0026#39; what the film was about… with this one, I thought for a while after seeing it, and figured it out, put the pieces together myself, without much difficulty. Maybe thatu0026#39;s a problem for the film… itu0026#39;s too simple. Itu0026#39;s far more simple than the usual Cronenberg, and that is what makes me like it more, and his more experienced and analyzing fans like it less. I recommend this film to any fan of Cronenberg and/or dark films. Donu0026#39;t expect to be able to figure out the film from just one viewing, and donu0026#39;t take anything you see in it at face value. 8/10”