Spiders Lost In Your Hairspray

There are very few directors making films these days that I would consider talented enough to truly challenge their audiences. Today we’ll look at projects connected to three of them.

Anyone who knows me well knows that my absolute favorite director is David Cronenberg (although I will admit the same thing about George Romero, Martin Scorsese and Billy Wilder on other days of the week). Cronenberg’s films are not for everyone. In fact, if you look at his entire body of work, you’ll discover a bunch of cult classics and only two “popular” films (“The Dead Zone” and “The Fly”). But his films are always interesting, regardless of the subject matter… which always tends to be dark, depressing and offbeat.

His most recent work is “Spider” and it’s just been released on DVD. Ralph Fiennes stars as Dennis “Spider” Clegg, a mentally disturbed man who mutters a lot, collects things he finds on the ground and has recently moved into a halfway house from the asylum. The film is a look at just what it is that has caused Spider’s madness. We see Spider’s present day activities and we watch him watching his own past unfold around him. Because of his mental illness, you will not be able to trust anything that you see by the film’s end. And that is where the film’s genius and frustrations lay.

Patrick McGrath adapts the story from his own novel. Cronenberg has made a very grungy looking and time-displaced film (you’re never really sure of the era the parts of the film seem to take place in). And this all works in the film’s favor. I’m not going to go into some of the “tricks” used to move the viewer into trying to understand Spider’s plight, but some of them are brilliant (some are just weird). The supporting cast includes Gabriel Byrne as Spider’s father, John Neville as another mental patient, Lynn Redgrave as the director of the halfway house, Mrs. Wilkinson and Miranda Richardson in three roles as Spider’s mother, Spider’s stepmother and Mrs. Wilkinson (yes…the same Mrs. Wilkinson played by Lynn Redgrave).

This is one of those films that needs to be seen more than once to truly be understood and appreciated (or one could just listen to Cronenberg’s commentary and let him tell you what it’s all about). While the film isn’t as accessible as some of his other works, it’s not as weird and obtuse as it could have been. I enjoyed this slow boil film and look forward to subsequent viewings. For most of you, I’d suggest staying away unless you’ve sat through and liked some of his other films like “Naked Lunch” or “Crash”.

Next we come to Terry Gilliam. Gilliam has come a long way from being the token American in “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. In just over the past twenty years he has made six films. Almost all of them have been highly entertaining, visually challenging films to watch, but all of them have had long and rocky roads to hitting the silver screen. It was inevitable, I think, that Gilliam would eventually make a film that would never be completed. The subject matter he chose and tried to capture on film was “Don Quixote”. He should have learned the lesson from Orson Welles who also made an unfinished version of this story.

The making of Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” is chronicled in the wonderful documentary “Lost in La Mancha”. Here we see a modern day Quixote in Gilliam who has been dreaming this film since 1991. He tried to get it made in Hollywood and eventually had to get European financing to do it. Working on a much smaller budget and a very tight schedule, Gilliam tried to get this film off the ground in 2001. But the production was plagued with problems from the start of pre-production. They can’t nail down the actors for rehearsals, they can’t get prop built, they can’t find a suitable studio for set work and when they finally start the train rolling and start shooting the first six days are pure hell (for example, the second day on location is plagued by a storm that destroys equipment and changes the look of the location). And then the lead becomes ill and everything comes to a halt.

The film gives a very good insight into the stress that can go into a major production that hasn’t been budgeted or scheduled properly. It’s obvious from what we do get to see of the film shot that Gilliam was compromising his vision just to get the film started as if that would put everything on the right track. This is a great look at what might have been (and what may someday still be as Gilliam is still trying to raise new money to buy the film back from the insurance company that now owns it). If you like seeing how films are made, or unmade, this is a great example to watch.

The DVD is actually a two disc set that contains two hour-long looks at Gilliam’s career, several scenes deleted from the documentary, a twenty minute very frank interview with actor Johnny Depp and some other interviews and candid comments from various cast and crew. The one thing missing is a longer look at some of the footage actually shot for the unfinished film (only some of it is on display in the documentary).

Gilliam was unfairly tagged with the notion of being a difficult director during the making of “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen”. He’s made a few films since then and the moniker should have been taken off by now, but it hasn’t. His next film is “The Brothers Grimm” starring Matt Damon and Heathe Ledger. Thankfully, he’s back in the director’s chair doing something, even if it’s not his dream project.

John Waters took a long path to go from cult favorite to “mainstream”. The start of that “mainstreaming” of Waters would be 1988’s “Hairspray”. The proof is in the fact that this movie was turned into a Tony Award winning musical that is selling out night after night.

Waters’ film is a fun and kitschy look at the TV dance show craze of the 1960’s. He’s propped the idea up with the story of a chubby high school girl who only wants to be on a TV dance show, added in a beauty contest and a thread about segregation. It’s fun, makes sense and moves along nicely. The musical has changed around parts of Waters’ film for dramatic staging purposes (combining some characters, eliminating others) and in doing so has left a few gaping plot holes. Luckily, the music is so much fun and so infectious that you’ll forgive this flawed piece any flaws it does show.

Like “The Producers” this show is moving mostly on star power and pure energy. Harvey Fierstein stars as Edna Turnblad, the hefty mother of our chubby hero and it’s gonna be tough to replace him when his contract is up (although when they do, they should find someone with a less gravelly voice…it was hard to understand some of his dialogue at times). There is only one misfire song in the whole show (it’s the Act Two penultimate scene that just brings all the energy that’s been built up over two hours to a screeching halt). Luckily, the show quickly recovers and flies to its final number that will have you dancing and clapping in the aisles (if you saw the Tonys you’ve seen this number)/

“Hairspray” isn’t art. It isn’t great musical theater. It’s a lot of fun and highly entertaining. You shouldn’t be disappointed.

Lastly, “The Dead Zone” finished its extension to the second season last night and it ended on a doozy of a note. The creators of this show have kept the feel of Stephen King’s novel intact while going off in some very wild directions. Last night’s episode, “Visions” was no exception and added an amazing level to the show that astounded and amazed. This show had better come back for a third season and the folks at USA had best leave the creators alone and let them do what they need to do.

That’s all for today. I’ll be back later in the week with a review of “American Wedding”, a personal update and a review of a musical from the New York City Fringe Festival.

Until then, be seeing you.

“Just panties. What else do I need?” – Linda Rogo (Stella Stevens) in “The Poseidon Adventure” on what she’s wearing after being asked to take off her long dress so she can climb up to the hull of the ship.