Writer/director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, MVFF21) confidently employs the stylized trappings of classic Hollywood musicals and lurid pulp melodrama to present the mesmerizing tale of political prisoners in 1983 Argentina.

Obsessed with screen queen Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez), queer window dresser Luis (Tonatiuh) affectionately relates his favorite of her films to his Marxist cellmate Valentin (Diego Luna). A movie-within-a-movie unfolds with femme fatale Ingrid spinning her glamourous web around Luis and Valentin.

The storytelling is not merely diversion: Its embrace of compassion and dignity allows a deeper intimacy to develop between these two disparate victims of fascist oppression. Condon adapts Manual Puig’s novel and Kander and Ebb’s Tony winner into a shimmering showcase for its three enchanting leads, complete with lavish musical numbers giving nods to Vincente Minnelli and Bob Fosse. Beyond the lush production design and enchanting choreography, Kiss of the Spider Woman demonstrates how activism and strength can emerge in the most unlikely of settings. —Sterling Hedgpeth

Director: Bill Condon (US 2025) 128 min

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