PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A lavish, MGM-style musical shouldn’t be typical Sundance Movie Competition fare. However Sunday evening Invoice Condon introduced such a creation—properly, a part of one—to Park Metropolis, Utah, together with his adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” starring Jennifer Lopez.
Audiences broke out in spontaneous applause through the screening for Lopez’s tune and dance numbers. She performs an previous Hollywood display screen siren in a movie-within-the film. The packed Eccles Theater additionally gave Lopez, sporting a glittery spiderweb themed frock, a standing ovation after the present.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” Lopez mentioned.
The story, which revolves across the conversations between two cellmates in an Argentine jail, was first a novel by Manuel Puig in 1976 and has been tailored for stage and display screen over time. A 1985 movie adaptation starred William Damage and Raul Julia. Damage received an Oscar for his efficiency. On Broadway, it received a number of Tony Awards.
Condon wrote and directed this new model, which is in search of a distributor. Diego Luna performs an imprisoned revolutionary Valentin Arregui, whose new cellmate Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) loves motion pictures, superstar and glamour and enthusiastically recounts the story of a favourite film musical, referred to as “Kiss of the Spider Woman” to Valentin, giving them and the viewers a break from their bleak actuality.
Whereas the movie has memorable moments of escapist spectacle, it additionally delves into severe matters of gender identification. Molina tells Valentin that they don’t really feel like a person or a girl—which Valentin finds odd at first however grows to know.
Earlier than the screening, Condon mentioned that one of many issues the film is about is “the attempt to bridge the incredible differences that separate us so often.” He quoted President Donald Trump’s latest remarks about two genders as official coverage.
“That’s a sentiment I think you’ll see that the movie has a different point of view on,” mentioned Condon.
After the movie, the dialogue of gender identification and tolerance continued. Tonatiuh mentioned it was tough rising up as a “femme queer Latin kid in a culture that doesn’t necessarily praise those things” and was advised that it could be limiting in an performing profession.
“When I got this material, I knew this person spiritually,” Tonatiuh mentioned. I understood somebody who felt like a loser in their very own life and learns methods to be the hero of their very own story. I bought to point out your entire spectrum from female to masculine and the whole lot in between.”
However most of all everybody was simply excited to be in an actual film musical.
“I did write that line, ‘I pity people who hate musicals,’” Condon mentioned. “All the things that movies can do can happen in a musical.”
Lopez mentioned it was watching “West Side Story” each Thanksgiving on tv that made her need to grow to be a performer.
Condon, Lopez mentioned by way of tears, “made my dreams come true.”
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For extra protection of the 2025 Sundance Movie Competition, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/sundance-film-festival
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Author : LasVegasNews
Publish date : 2025-01-27 08:38:27
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