I have a confession to make. I really didn’t like the late, great William Hurt’s performance in the 1985 film, Kiss Of The Spider Woman. I don’t care that he won the Oscar, I found him way too mannered, affected, and “playing gay” the entire time. Hurt should have won two years later for his incredible work in Broadcast News, but we don’t live in a meritocracy, do we? I’m not saying that gay roles should only go to gay actors, but sometimes, in my gut, I can spot the difference, and my gut told me Hurt should have refrained from the pearl clutching and the towel wrapped around the head like a turban of it all.
Consider my delight then, 40 years later, to experience a staggering, star-making portrayal of the same role by relative newcomer, Tonatiuh, a queer nonbinary performer. In cinema, despite the glut of remakes and sequels, we don’t often get to experience such a satisfying course correction. In this musical adaptation of the original, both of which were based on the 1976 novel by Manuel Puig, the changes prove immensely satisfying. Writer-director Bill Condon (Gods & Monsters, Dreamgirls) takes on the Broadway stage musical with a book by Terrence McNally and music by the legendary John Kander and Fred Ebb.
Set in 1980s Argentina during a time known as “The Dirty War”, the oppressive military dictatorship disappeared, imprisoned, or murdered its opponents. With this nightmare of a backdrop, so relevant to the here and now, our two protagonists, Molina (Tonatiuh), a queer window dresser accused of public indecency, and Valentín (Diego Luna), a political prisoner, find themselves sharing a cell. While the straight Valentin wants to keep to himself, Molina, a confident, social, and quite hilarious person, insists on filling the dank walls and dead air with posters and tales of his favorite movie star, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez). One film in particular, Kiss Of The Spider Woman, captivates and inspires Molina more than any other. While the prison itself traffics in grime, blood and the screams of the tortured, the movie within the movie explodes in all its Technicolor, 1940s MGM musical glory.
Much like the film adaptation of Chicago, in which all of the musical numbers took place inside Roxie Hart’s imagination, the ones here are all products of Molina’s vivid recollections. As such, the film illustrates its themes of fascist resistance and art saving us during the worst of times with much more precision and clarity than its predecessors. Condon and his cinematographer, Tobias A. Schliessler, film the musical sequences beautifully. They honor the incredibly talented Sergio Trujillo’s choreography by adhering to the classic rule of featuring full shots of the dancing from head to toe. Within this milieu, Jennifer Lopez has nowhere to hide, and she delivers an astounding performance. With minimal dialogue and operating within the world of a somewhat mediocre, cheesy film story, she explodes with vibrancy, jaw-dropping dance moves (that knee bend twirl is an IYKYK highlight), and a strong, clear gorgeous voice. The title song alone has entered my heavy rotation pantheon, and dare I say, I prefer it to Chita Rivera’s Broadway version. Although her role gets dwarfed by the screen time of its two leads, Lopez makes such an indelible mark on this film that I couldn’t help myself afterwards by blurting out in the very crowded and very public lobby, “Jesus! She sang and danced her ass off!”
The movie, however, lives or dies by the chemistry between Tonatiuh and Luna, and to that end, it does not disappoint. Luna gives a quieter, gentler performance than Raul Julia, expertly exploding with rage at key moments but bringing such empathy at others. A key scene shows Valentín at his most vulnerable, breaking your heart with what gets so viscerally exposed, literally and figuratively. Instead of leaning into cliched behavioral tics like William Hurt did, Tonatiuh relies on defiant sharpness, an unapologetic stare, and an angelic singing voice to get us to lean forward in our seats the entire time. They not only hold their own opposite two screen icons, they blaze a new trail for queer screen representation. Sure, the story falls into some dated tropes when it comes to the destinies of its characters, but Tonatiuh doesn’t just earn your love and respect, they demand it!
A minor quibble of mine involves how the prison scenes look and move. Hector Babenco’s film felt more cinematic and inventive during these sequences, whereas Condon’s suffers a bit from claustrophobia and a more stage bound feeling. Having said that, the original film can’t hold a candle to the new version’s stunning musical numbers. Filled with gorgeous melodies, “Where You Are”, for example, has that ear worm quality on a par with “All That Jazz” and “Willkommen”. The scenes burst with kinetic energy and lush, sweeping camera moves. Yes, it’s old fashioned, but that’s the point. Kiss Of The Spider Woman says art makes us human and good. It wants to burrow into your brain that to deny artistic expression, to deny individuality, and to deny beauty is death. We need this message now more than ever.
By Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic
Kiss Of The Spider Woman opens in theaters on Friday, October 10th, 2025.
For more film reviews by Glenn Gaylord subscribe to his new YouTube channel here ——> GLENN HATES EVERYTHING
Finally a review I can wholeheartedly agree with, thank you. I’ve been flitting around the Internet ever since I caught a matinee today and have been extremely disappointed by the reviewer responses so far. They’re missing so much. You touched on a lot of the reasons I felt this film was superior…and I was a huge fan of the old one when I saw it back in the day. I just excitedly wrote to a friend about how much of a stick in the eye this movie is to a certain authoritarian, bigoted, anti-human, rigid, joyless regime, what with all its Latinos, revolutionaries, queer love, gender fluidity, music and JOY. One thing that always broke my heart (teh tragic gay trope!) was that Valentin’s dying vision was of Sonia Braga after Molina died for him. (Hurry up and reassert this man’s heterosexuality before he dies, so no one gets the wrong idea!) This movie’s denouement was both more optimistic and more satisfying. I don’t want to put in spoilers by saying too much, but I love that the love that developed between the two leads was so much more reciprocal.