David R. Walker

Wuthering Heights

Director: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell, Charlotte Mellington, Owen Cooper, Amy Morgan

Running Time: 2 hours and 16 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

They say you have to be cruel to be kind. Let’s start with the cruelty.

Did director Emerald Fennell read Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights that was a sensation when published in 1847?

Actress Emerald Fennell turned director with her Oscar winning film Promising Young Woman and then followed that up with the shockingly bizarre and strange Saltburn which was actually terrible. So it was with trepidation I learnt that Emerald Fennell would be doing a film version of Wuthering Heights, a mid-Victorian romantic novel which has been turned into a film countless times from the famous Oscar winning 1939 version starring Sir Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon and David Niven to more recent versions with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley.

Wuthering Heights was always about a tragic love triangle but at its emotional core is the fiery and unpredictable love between the wilful Catherine Earnshaw and the orphan boy Heathcliff.

In the 2026 version, Oscar nominee Margot Robbie (I,Tonya; Bombshell) stars as Catherine and then the best casting choice ever was to have the hunk of the moment, the towering Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) cast as the dashing and brutal Heathcliff.  

While Margot Robbie did her best as the doomed heroine Catherine Earnshaw, I kept seeing Barbie on the Yorkshire Moors and not Catherine. Catherine, despite all warnings from everyone, does indeed ruin her prospects. Robbie seemed to be crying in every scene of the film.

Jacob Elordi on the other hand was brilliant as Heathcliff, looming and hulking, chopping wood with his hairy torso displayed while Catherine succumbs to indecision and repressed desire. Although that desire does not remain that repressed for director Emerald Fennell then decides to turn this version of Wuthering Heights into a vaguely 1970’s soft porn video.

There is a bizarre scene of Catherine masturbating on the moors while Heathcliff sneaks up on her in disbelief. Then there is the equally strange scene of Catherine spying on the kinky servants having a bondage love scene, with the servants played by Ewan Mitchell and Amy Morgan.

Then there is the dubious casting choices in this contemporary version of Wuthering Heights. While Oscar nominee Hong Chau (The Whale) who is superb as the downtrodden servant Nelly, it is the weird choice of British actor Shazad Latif (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Edgar Linton. There was zero chemistry between Latif and Robbie while obviously this is counterpointed by the onscreen chemistry between Robbie and Elordi.

Veteran British TV and film actor Martin Clunes (Shakespeare in Love) is excellent as Catherine’s alcoholic gambling father Mr Earnshaw and another notable exception is Irish actress Alison Oliver as the repressed and gorgeous Isabella, Mr Linton’s ward, filled with Shakespearean notions of love.

Now for the kindness. To be fair to the production designer Suzie Davies who beautifully captures the Moors and the rambling dilapidation of the country estate Wuthering Heights and the fabulous costumes by Oscar winner Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina, Little Woman), this film does manage to elevate itself out of the mundane and look like an amazing Vogue cover shoot, drawing on inspiration from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.

Besides the costumes and sets, the dialogue manages to maintain the correct Victorian diction reflective of the times, however there were some completely unnecessary scenes in this version, which Emerald Fennell included to be provocative without respecting the provenance of the original Gothic romantic novel.

Wuthering Heights will do well at the box office as it has enough stunning cinematic moments that the two main stars help generate and will appeal to 21^st century audience. However, I do urge the 21^st century audience to read the far better novel by Emily Bronte who would turn in her grave if she saw this outlandish version.

The statuesque and smouldering Jacob Elordi saves this version from being trashy and he proves that he is a leading man of this age.

Wuthering Heights expertly marketed to be released on the Valentine’s Day weekend gets a film rating of 7 out of 10. Recommended viewing for the production design and the costumes but not for its disrespect to the original novel.

Frankenstein

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Felix Kammerer, Charles Dance, David Bradley, Christian Convery

Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Please note this film is only available on Netflix

Ever since Mexican director Guillermo del Toro burst onto the cinema world stage with his extraordinary Oscar winning Spanish language film Pan’s Labyrinth twenty years ago in 2006, del Toro has been a director to watch. He helmed such brilliant films as The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley.  Now del Toro takes on with relish the Victorian Gothic re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s Gothic horror novel Frankenstein.

With Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein we get the perspective of both the inventor and the creature which has been invented. The monster in this case is expertly played by rising star, the tall and handsome Australian actor Jacob Elordi (Saltburn). Elordi’s performance is brilliant as the naïve, immortal but super-strong monster who only understands that men are cruel and violent.

Frankenstein is set in mid 19^th century Europe and all praise has to go the superb costume designs by Kate Hawley and the stunning production design by Tamara Deverell. Frankenstein is a dark and contemplative film about the nature of creation and the ethics of Dr Frankenstein brilliantly played by Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year) who should have also received an Oscar nomination.

Frankenstein is supported by an array of talented character actors expertly chosen for their menace and their beauty. Charles Dance (White Mischief, Gosforth Park, The Imitation Game) plays Victor Frankenstein’s cruel father Baron Frankenstein and Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) plays the scheming and wealthy arms manufacturer Harlander and Felix Kamerer (All Quiet on the Western Front) plays Frankenstein’s unsuspecting younger brother William.

Then there is radiance of Mia Goth as Elizabeth resplendent in dazzling Victorian outfits which sets her quite apart from the vicious and egotistical men. Goth’s character is the only one that feels true compassion for the Creature and he reciprocates his feelings for the gorgeous Elizabeth without realizing his own desire.

Frankenstein is superbly told from two opposing perspectives, but at the heart of such a lavish and spectacular film which beautifully captures the Victorian Gothic obsession with creatures and the afterlife, death and destruction, is a captivating performance by Jacob Elordi who physically embodies the awkwardness of the creature, it’s vulnerability and strength. The fact that Elordi is very tall made him the perfect actor to play the creature so savagely reassembled.

Frankenstein is beautifully done, violent and extraordinary, cruel and dazzling.

Director Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a cinematic feast to behold and is highly recommended viewing. Frankenstein gets a film rating of 8 out of 10.

Hamnet

Director: Chloe Zhao

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Joe Alwyn, Emily Watson, David Wilmot, Jacobi Jupe, Noah Jupe, Olivia Lynes, Bodhi Rae Breathnach

Running Time: 2 hours and 5 minutes

Film Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Oscar winning director Chloe Zhao weaves her cinematic magic in a beautiful yet gut wrenching masterpiece of a film, Hamnet based upon the acclaimed novel by Maggie O’Farrell and produced by Steven Spielberg, Pippa Harris and Sam Mendes amongst others.

Set in Stratford upon Avon and London, Hamnet traces the early life of William Shakespeare, his courting of the headstrong and pastoral Agnes through their wedding and subsequent birth of their three children. While Will is away in London quietly becoming one of England’s greatest playwrights that ever lived, Agnes is dealing with her three children – Susanna played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach and twins Hamnet, the only boy played by Jacobi Jupe and his sister Judith played by Olivia Lynes.

With an absent father, Agnes in a breath taking performance by Jessie Buckley who deserves every acting accolade under the sun, discovers that Judith the weaker of the twins contracts the pestilence brought to England from Europe in 1596. Her twin brother Hamnet is distraught that his sister is sick but also that his mysteriously brooding and famous father is continually absent. But Shakespeare told Hamnet to be brave.

In an effort to cure his sister of her devastating illness, Hamnet shares a bed with his sick sister.  

There is no greater strain on a marriage than the loss of a child and director Chloe Zhao paints a beautiful portrait of a young couple trying to survive a terrible tragedy. When Agnes is paralyzed by grief, her brother Bartholomew played by Joe Alwyn (The Brutalist) urges his sister to go to London to see what accomplishments young Shakespeare has created. Agnes’s stepmother tells her that Shakespeare has written a new play and it’s not a comedy but a tragedy, a monumental meditation on mortality, betrayal and grief. Hamlet, one of the greatest and most complex plays ever written.

Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) is brilliant as the ambitious and frustrated playwright William Shakespeare who has to sacrifice being with his family in order to achieve literary fame. At the emotional centre of Hamnet is Agnes, a heart wrenching performance by Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) who is so angry at what the fates have given her, even though her destiny of only having two surviving children is chillingly fulfilled.

On every level Hamnet is a masterpiece from superb performances by the two main leads, to the remarkable young actors including brothers Jacobi Jupe playing young Hamnet and Noah Jupe playing the fictional character of Hamlet to the recreation of the Globe Theatre.

A masterful adaptation of a beautiful novel, Hamnet is an authentic and classic film portraying how grief can tear families apart but how literary success and fame can serve as a method of dealing with such untimely tragedy.

The last half of Hamnet is captivating, from its production design by Fiona Crombie who also did The Favourite to the musical score by Max Richter to the excellent Elizabethan costumes by Malgosia Turzanska.

Hamnet will appeal to lovers of Shakespeare and literary films which are skilfully told. In this case it is the sacrifice of a child that is the origin of a famous tragedy. Hamnet is immersive viewing, extremely sad but absolutely brilliant. Director Chloe Zhao is a master of her craft.

Hamnet gets a film rating of 9.5 out of 10 and is highly recommended for anyone that loves film and theatre. A masterpiece that Shakespeare would be proud of.

Song Sung Blue

Director: Craig Brewer

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Ella Anderson, Hudson Henley, Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, Mustafa Shakir

Running Time: 2 hours and 12 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Twenty six years after her first Oscar nomination for Almost Famous back in 2000 for director Cameron Crowe’s musical drama, Oscar nominee Kate Hudson, daughter of Oscar winner and Hollywood veteran Goldie Hawn, stars in a new musical drama Song Sung Blue directed by Craig Brewer for which Hudson has just been nominated again for Best Actress in the 2026 Oscars.

Kate Hudson is extraordinary as a divorcee Claire in 1990’s Minnesota who teams up with a fellow singer impersonator the troubled Mike well played with gusto by Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables) in Song Sung Blue, not the catchiest title for a film.

However despite the extraordinarily long running time, Song Sung Blue is an enjoyable musical drama about average Americans trying to survive by doing Neil Diamond and Patsy Cline impersonations on stage.

Claire and Mike form the Lightning and Thunder duo as they tour around the mid-West with the help of their hilarious manager Tony D’Amato superbly played by Jim Belushi (Wonder Wheel, The Whole Truth) and supported by Mike’s friends Dr Dave Watson played by Fisher Stevens recently seen in Ripley and Succession TV series and Mike Shurilla played by Michael Imperioli (Goodfellas).  

Complications arise in Claire and Mike’s marriage and performing partnership as Claire is hit by a car in a bad accident outside their house and she has rehabilitate herself and emotionally train herself to appear back on stage.

The rest of the supporting cast include Claire’s children Rachel played by Ella Anderson who is excellent and her son Dana played by Hudson Henley.

Despite the setbacks Claire and Mike have as a performing duo, Song Sung Blue as a film was not edited properly and is saved by an extraordinarily vulnerable performance by Kate Hudson who carries the entire film.

While Song Sung Blue has great commercial appeal and there is an undeniable spark between Hudson and Jackman, the film itself meandered from one family drama to another while touching on issues of addiction, survival and ambition. A musical story about a couple that are almost famous but whose love triumphs through tenacity and tragedy.

See Song Sung Blue for the Neil Diamond music and the great family story, however as film it doesn’t stand as a monumental piece of cinema and is saved only by a brilliant performance by Kate Hudson. Director Craig Brewer who delivered the hilarious comedy Coming 2 America needs to employ a better editor.

This film has done extremely well at the box office which and has a warm compassionate appeal, however it pales in comparison to films like Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another.

Song Sung Blue gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is worth seeing purely for Kate Hudson’s competent performance. Recommended viewing for an enjoyable family drama.

The 83rd Golden Globe Awards took place on Sunday 11th January 2026 in Los Angeles and hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Beverly Hilton Hotel – Here are the 2026 Golden Globe Winners in the Film Categories:

Best motion picture – Drama:

Hamnet

Best motion picture – Musical or Comedy:

One Battle After Another

Best actress in a motion picture – Drama:

Jessie Buckley – Hamnet

Best actor in a motion picture – Drama:

Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

Best actress in a motion picture – Musical or Comedy:

Rose Byrne – If I had legs I would kick you

Best actor in a motion picture – Musical or Comedy:

Timothee Chalamet – Marty Supreme

Best supporting actress in any motion picture:

Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

Best supporting actor in any motion picture:

Stellan Skarsgard – Sentimental Value

Best Director – motion picture:

Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay – Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Best motion picture – non-English language: The Secret Agent directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho

Rental Family

Director: Hikari

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman

Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes

Language: Japanese with English subtitles

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Please note this film is mostly in Japanese with English Subtitles

Ever since Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor Oscar for Darren Aronofsky’s brilliant film The Whale, he has experienced a career resurgence after his millennial high with the Mummy franchise opposite Oscar winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener).

After brief appearance in director Martin Scorsese’s Killer of the Flower Moon, it is refreshing to see Brendan Fraser take on a lead role in a fascinating Japanese drama called Rental Family shot entirely in Tokyo.

Fraser plays the cumbersome but lovable American actor Philip Vanderploeg from Minnesota who is literally trying to make it big in Japan. Japanese director Hikari who also directed the brilliant Netflix series Beef about two Korean Americans in Los Angeles who have a road rage fight. Hikari presents an elegant feminine touch in directing Rental Family about some of the bizarre practices of Japanese culture.

Vanderploeg plays a rent an hour actor for the happiness agency headed by Shinja Tada played by Takehiro Hira (Captain America: Brave New World, Gran Turismo) with the help of his able assistant and fixer Akiro Nakajima superbly played by Mari Yamamoto who as an actor also produced the excellent series Tokyo Vice.

As a noticeable American, Vanderploeg is hired out to be a make believe husband for a fake wedding so that the bride can hide her sexuality from her parents. He is also hired to play a fake reporter for an ageing Japanese film star with dementia. Most significantly he is hired to play an American fake father to a young Eurasian girl Mia expertly played by Shannon Mahina Gorman.

Vanderploeg becomes emotionally attached to his make believe clients. He becomes fond of the ageing Japanese film star who is keen to escape from his over protective daughter. He loves playing a fake father to Mia as a means for the young girl to gain admittance into a posh Tokyo school.

Soon, Vanderploeg’s cover is blown, while he is attempting to navigate an unsual Japanese culture in which payment for make believe emotions is a common social practice.

Hikari as a director captures the mysterious allure of Japan as well as the densely populated bustle of metropolitan Tokyo with beautiful cinematography by Takuro Ishizaka and production design by Norhiro Isoda and Masako Takayama.

Brendan Fraser is excellent as the actor playing a version of himself in a foreign exotic country with unbelievable customs. Rental Family is a fascinating drama about fake relations and real emotions and is highly recommended viewing for those that love Japanese culture and films.

Rental Family gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is worth seeing for those that enjoyed films like Babel and Lost in Translation.

The 31st Critics’ Choice Awards were presented on Sunday January 4, 2026, at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California, honouring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2025.

These are the winners in the film category:

Best Picture: One Battle After Another

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet – Marty Supreme

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley – Hamnet

Best Supporting Actor: Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan – Weapons

Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler – Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Best Cinematography: Alphonso Veloso – Train Dreams

Best Production Design: Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau – Frankenstein

Best Costume Design: Kate Hawley – Frankenstein

Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Marty Supreme

Director: Josh Safdie

Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Fran Drescher, Sandra Bernhard, Emory Cohen, Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara

Running time: 2 hours and 29 minutes

Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Director Josh Safdie found the right actor with Oscar nominee 30 year stratospheric star Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name, A Complete Unknown) to take on the main role of the obnoxious and cheeky yet determined table tennis player Marty Mauser in his new brilliant original film Marty Supreme set in New York in 1952, just seven years after the end of World War II.

Co-written with Ronald Bronstein, Marty Supreme features a tour-de-force performance by Timothee Chalamet as a determined and broke young shoe salesman who plans on following his dream by representing America in table tennis at the international table tennis championships first in London and then eventually in Tokyo.

Except that Marty is trapped in a family business working for his uncle who is financially supporting his mother Rebecca Mauser played by Fran Drescher.

Marty has big dreams, lots of energy and confidence and is ready to do literally anything to escape the claustrophobic setting of his New York neighbourhood, however he accidentally complicates his life when he sleeps with the young and audacious Rachel Mizler wonderfully played by Odessa A’zion.

Marty flies to London where while at the Ritz during a crazy interview with reporters he spots the beautiful and regal 1930’s screen actress Kay Stone superbly played by Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love) who is absolutely brilliant as a fading film star trapped in a lavish but loveless marriage to the ink billionaire Milton Rockwell, sadistically played to perfection by Kevin O’Leary. In Kay Stone and Milton Rockwell, Marty discovers affluent people with the means to do anything, a far cry from the hustlers and con artists that populate his world. Marty is mesmerized by the alluring Kay Stone and embarks on a passionate but bizarre maternal affair with his financier’s wife.

Gwyneth Paltrow after a long screen hiatus is back in an emotional nuanced performance beautifully based on annoyance and lust whereby she holds Marty in contempt for being not only her younger male lover but also because socially he is well below her social status even though she is just an actress.

Broke and desperate to raise money to get to the table tennis champions in Tokyo, a dream which seems impossible to everyone, Marty is determined to hustle and woo Milton Rockwell while also trying to steal money from an old gangster Ezra Mishkin played by film director Abel Ferrara who will pay a reward fee to find his lost dog.

With a colourful script by Bronstein and Safdie, Marty Supreme is an amazing life affirming, frenetic picaresque tale of one man who is determined to make his dreams come true despite his social, financial and romantic challenges.

At the centre of Marty Supreme is a brilliant Oscar worthy performance by Timothee Chalamet who inhabits every moment of the Neo-realist narrative filling the screen with crazy antics, snappy dialogue and an immeasurable screen confidence which overflows in a story about determination, success and the ability to believe in yourself.

Set between New York, London and Tokyo, Marty Supreme is an electrifying film anchored by two amazing performances by Timothee Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow who counterbalance a story about chaos, blind ambition and responsibility.

Marty Supreme is an inventive original film which deserves recognition and gets a film rating of 8.5 out of 10.

It’s a crazy film but audiences will not be disappointed. Chalamet deserves all the acting accolades coming his way. Highly recommended viewing.   

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Cast: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Giovanni Ribisi, David Thewlis, Jack Champion, Laz Alonso, Kevin Dorman

Running Time: 3 hours and 17 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Titanic director James Cameron has proved his worth as a cinematic world builder.

In the third instalment of the Avatar franchise, the new film entitled Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron reassembles his old cast in a multi-themed narrative about the air breathers or Sky People fighting the Na’vi which culminates in a lavish adventure while constantly being threatened by an evil fire tribe headed by the fiery Varang voiced by Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter Oona Chaplin (Quantum of Solace, The Devil’s Double).

Varang heads up the fire wielding Ash creatures who makes a deal with Miles Quatrich played by Stephen Lang in exchange for much coveted arms. In this extraordinary narrative, Sully played again by Sam Worthington along with his family are out to protect Spider played by Jack Champion who has inadvertently found the ability to survive on Pandora without needing an oxygen mask.

Avatar: Fire and Ash has stunning production design by Dylan Cole and Ben Procter coupled with shimmering cinematography by Russell Carpenter. The film itself is a sight to behold, lavish, beautiful and entertaining.

As Sully and Spider avoid capture by Varang, they fall into the hands of the technologically advanced humans on Pandora particularly General Ardmore played by Edie Falco and Selfridge played by Giovanni Ribisi (Selma, Contraband, The Rum Diary) who are desperate to experiment on Spider after he is infused with a strange substance that allows him to breath on Pandora, a substance which if harnessed properly could allow the humans to colonize and exist on Pandora and eternally threaten the Na’vi. General Ardmore views the Na vi as hostiles on the perimeter of their industrial military complex.  

As the final battle looms between the humans and the Na’vi creatures, strange alliances are forged to help protect Pandora’s ecosystem and the existence of the indigenous oceanic tribes, an allegorical nod to climate change and the horrors of ruthless colonialism.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is much better than one expects although the film is extremely long but considering how packed the cinema was when I watched it, it’s definitely a film that is attracting crowds back to the movie theatres.

Something that Hollywood needs at this critical time in which streaming services are blatantly threatening the survival of the collective cinema experience.

Congratulations to James Cameron who delivers another visually resplendent epic film yet again with Avatar: Fire and Ash which should get recognized at the 2026 Oscars for nominations for Best Picture and Visual Effects. If Titanic was the film that made James Cameron famous, Avatar will be his legacy.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is entertaining and visually beautiful with amazing special effects. This epic gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is highly recommended for fans of the first two films. Worth seeing on the biggest screen possible.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Director: Bill Condon

Cast: Diego Luna, Jennifer Lopez, Tonatiuh, Bruno Bechir, Josefina Scaglione, Driton Dovolani, Aline Mayagoitia

Running Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Thank you to United International Pictures for organizing the press preview at Suncoast Cinemas in Durban on Tuesday 9th December 2025.

Forty years after the original Oscar winning film Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) by Argentinian director Hector Babenco which won William Hurt an Oscar for Best Actor back in 1986, Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon reimagines the novel by Manuel Puig as a musical with Diego Luna as political prisoner Valentin Arregui and Tonatiuh as his homosexual cellmate Luis Molina in a Buenos Aires prison in the last brutal days of a military junta in 1983 which terrorized Argentina in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is all about the relationship between the two men, Valentin is all machismo and brute strength while Molina possesses a vivid and flamboyant imagination passing the lonely cell hours telling Valentin about his love of cinema particularly the film Kiss of the Spider Woman and all while trying to extract information about Valentin to tell the authorities.

While the original film was dark and serious touching on the taboo subject of homosexuality at the heights of the AIDS crisis in America, this version is lighter and more vibrant helped immensely by the brilliant casting of pop music icon and actress Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers, Maid in Manhattan, Out of Sight) as Aurora the fabulous heroine of our story who Molina aspires to be like. He imagines a transgender version of himself dressed as Aurora with pearls, furs and gorgeous gowns.

Aurora is also the Spider Woman, a role played by Sonia Braga in the original film. Golden Globe nominee Jennifer Lopez (Selena) is radiant as Aurora in Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman effortlessly singing fantastic songs from the stage musical by Terrence McNally.

As the film flicks between fantasy and what is really happening in that dank and sweaty prison cell between Valentin and Molina, a relationship based on desire and repression, Kiss of the Spiderwoman brilliantly creates a contrast between the bright and glamourous world of imaginary cinema which Molina conjures up and that of the two men’s sinister political situation under repression, whereby despite the circumstances queer love triumphs.

The 2025 Kiss of the Spider Woman is vibrant and beautifully done with fabulous singing by Jennifer Lopez, a refreshingly different role for an actress who has been type cast in romantic comedies coupled with a sizzling gay relationship between Valentin and his fatally beautiful and vivid lover Molina.

The tone of this film radiates hope and accepts for the LGBTIQ+ community in an era when sexual orientation is not frowned upon or prohibited like it was back in the early 1980’s.

Mexican actor Diego Luna is no stranger to queer roles, expertly playing Harvey Milk’s hysterical lover Jack Lira in Gus van Sant’s Oscar winning film Milk in 2008.  Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez are brilliant in this musical version of Kiss of the Spiderwoman while Tonatiuh’s portrayal of Molina is suitably camp and tragic.

Bill Condon effortlessly breathes new life into Kiss of the Spider Woman for a new generation of queer cinema lovers and does justice to the vivid imagination of the author Manuel Puig on whose novel this film is based.

Kiss of the Spider Woman gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is recommended viewing for lovers of queer musicals featuring exotic Argentinian dance numbers and a story that will dazzle viewers and give hope to anyone that is living under authoritarian repression because human desire always triumphs over political control.