(rated R, 98 mins.)
A bizarre and twisted tale of a man named Spider (Ralph Fiennes) who is in constant struggle to overcome a bizarre event in his childhood. But he’s got plenty of time to figure that out, as he spends his adult years in a mental institution under the watchful and disciplined eye of Mrs. Wilkenson (Lynn Redgrave). When unexpectedly released, Spider immediately high-tails it back home to the old neighborhood for a taste, scent and sound of the familiar, sending him into a whirlwind of his parents’ memories (Miranda Richardson and Gabriel Byrne.) Shifting back and forth from the past to the present, as he questions “Who Are You? Spider forms his own reality that takes him to the very limits of his faltering sanity. Fiennes does a phenomenal job (though he only mumbles – never saying a word), while Richardson’ performance is Oscar worthy. For Gabriel Byrne, it’s one of his best roles to date. Who knew he could be so dark and nasty. Too bad, despite excellent acting, the storyline is so confusing and non-entertaining to the end.
