Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

Directed by Hector Babenco

on DVD

****

For the first time on DVD comes this little independent gem from the mid-80s which broke ground for indy films in corporate-run Hollywood. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture, actor (William Hurt), best director and screenplay, the film would earn an Oscar for Hurt, solidifying his reputation as one of the fine new American film actors of his generation. Hurt would earn two more consecutive best actor nods before being snubbed for what I consider his best work, The Accidental Tourist (1988), and beginning a low, painful decent into oblivion, finally making a comeback these last few years.

Kiss of the Spider Woman was based on the book of the same name by Manuel Uig, and adapted for the screen by writer Leonard Schrader. Brazilian director Hector Babenco came aboard hot off the success of the film Pixote (1982). He was the perfect choice for the tough character study.

Hurt is Molina, an effeminate homosexual imprisoned in a harsh hellhole for statutory rape, his cellmate the political prisoner Valentin (Raul Julia). Molina passes the time recounting memories from his favourite movies, much to the anger of his cellmate, who believes that Molina's beliefs are fluffy and have no place in the world. But as Molina chips away at Valentin, the man opens up to him and allows him into his world. An unlikely friendship develops when Molina tends to Valentin after he is poisoned by the guards. They are the most bizarre of couples, the political prisoner being poisoned by his jailers and the gay prisoner, slowly breaking down the homophobia of his cellmate, revealing a considerate, caring and kind man underneath. They become lovers, of course, more out of kindness than actual love, and Molina is enlisted to be part of Valentin's political agenda, with dire consequences.

From the first moment he is on screen, Hurt is the character, in the manner in which great actors inhabit their roles. He never overplays the homosexuality of the character, but there is something decidedly feminine about him throughout the film and something more, something terribly tragic and sad. His Oscar was a surprise but entirely deserving, and in his speech he thanked his partner on screen, who also should have been nominated.

Julia burns with a fierce intensity throughout the film. Always a smooth actor, he leaves that behind to create a gritty and real character, perhaps the best work of his career, which was cut all too short.

Wargames (1983)

Directed by John Badham

on DVD

****

In this day and age of high-tech video games comes the re-release of Wargames, a fine little thriller that seemed like fantasy so long ago yet now is all too real. David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) is a computer geek teen who often goes into his high school's computer main frame and changes his grades, staying out of trouble for the most part. By accident, he hacks his way into the National Defense Department's system and engages a game called Global Thermonuclear War, without realizing he has set off what could be the Third World War. The military believes the Russians have aimed their missiles at the U.S. and are preparing to do the same before David realizes what he is doing is not a game, sort of.

He becomes locked in a race against time to find the creator of the game, created for the military as training devices before the army gets their hands on him, or worse, before one of the two super powers thinks the other is about to launch and does so for real.

Broderick made his major debut and became a star over night; a quirky, original actor, he was the perfect choice to take the geek out of computer geek. And John Wood is superb as the computer genius who created the game before realizing what had he had done could bring the planet to destruction. As thrillers go, Wargames is terrific entertainment, but, with the advances in video games, has become also something of a cautionary tale.