Latest Cronenber film explores schizophrenia

As people file off a train in an England station, the camera floats through them, until the station is nearly empty. Finally, from off the train creeps its last passenger, hesitant for his feet to hit the ground, nervously peering about. This is Spider, the title character of David Cronen-berg's new film and played masterfully by Ralph Fiennes. "Spider" has been crawling through the film festival circuit, garnering much critical acclaim and deservingly so. After enjoying only a limited release, "Spider" has finally come our way. Revolving around the traumatic death of Spider's mother when he was a child, Cronenberg's film is both a complex investigation of insanity and our perception of sanity. Enjoying an amazing supporting cast from Gabriel Byrne, John Neville, Miranda Richardson and Lynn Redgrave, "Spider" is an intricate and subtly directed film, working from an excellent and insightful script.\nThose familiar with Cronenberg's prior films will see this as a break from his typical fleshy thrillers, such as "eXistenZ" and "Crash." Working on a much scaled-down production, "Spider" still has the signature of Cronenberg, with dark, disturbing moments and the expelling of bodily fluid. But this is Cronenberg's most quietly thoughtful film, with its lead character doing little other than wandering the back streets of London, softly mumbling to himself. \nCostume designer Denise Cronenberg and set decorator Clive Thomasson should also be commended for their work on the world in which Spider wanders. Green has been said to be the color most often chosen by geniuses, and the thin line between genius and insanity has been explored in film to cliché boredom. In Cronenberg's film the world is one of a stale and muted green, and serves as both a beautiful and unsettling motif throughout the film.\nWorking off of new gothic author Patrick McGrath's novel, McGrath also being the screenwriter, Cronenberg shows us the world as Spider sees it. Weaving moments of past and present together seamlessly and delusionally, Spider's dangerously fragile grip on reality is emphasized. Cronenberg has described the film as being a slightly askew meeting between Samuel Beckett and Sigmund Freud. With a riveting ending that is as touchingly insightful as it is horrifying, this Oedipal study into schizophrenia is a well-made film and well worth the time and money spent to see it.