By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Kiss of the Spider Woman (USA, 2025. Dir: Bill Condon): A sturdy original source can make even a bad movie tolerable (The Dark Tower comes to mind). True artists, however, aim higher and try to build something fresh on top of a strong foundation.

While not the first film adaptation of Manuel Puig’s novel of the same name, Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman is set to introduce at least two generations to this seminal tale of freedom and dignity through imagination.

For those unfamiliar with the book or the 1985 movie starring Raúl Juliá and William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman unfolds mostly inside a prison cell during Argentina’s military regime. Arregui, a political prisoner, and Molina, a gay man arrested for “indecency”, navigate oppression and boredom by relying on fantasy—and increasingly, on each other.

Molina, a natural raconteur, entertains the tightly wound Arregui by recapping his favorite movie, a grandiose musical featuring the screen diva he longs to emulate, Ingrid Luna. The film mirrors the convicts’ situation: Arregui is a cog in the revolutionary movement, and Molina has been coaxed by the warden into getting his cellmate to spill the beans. Everyone’s best laid plans fall apart the closer Arregui and Molina become.

To elevate his approach to the material, director Bill Condon expands the Hollywood portion of the story. Casting consummate entertainer Jennifer López as Ingrid Luna is a no-brainer. López excels in the song-and-dance numbers and meets expectations in the more dramatic portions of the film.

Equally smart is the casting of Tonatiuh as Molina. A fresh face in the role of the ingénue, Tonatiuh is open and likable from the start—unlike William Hurt’s pricklier interpretation. This brings us to the weakest link of the bunch: Diego Luna as Arregui. The youthful-looking Luna is a tough sell as a hardened political prisoner, although his transition from sullen to tender is perfectly believable.

Structural issues—such as the drama being more powerful than the musical numbers—are smoothed over by constant transitions between the two realms. It truly feels like a unified whole rather than two movies mashed together. This version of Kiss of the Spider Woman may not be as searing as previous incarnations, but has enough spectacle to make up for it. ★★★½☆

Kiss of the Spider Woman is now playing in theatres.