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Holy Spider is a great film, but not a spectacular one as I expected after reading many positive reviews praising it.
The production, directing, acting and soundtrack were all good, but the movie is unnecessarily long. Many scenes could have been made shorter or simply deleted from the final cut.
On the other hand, the message of how religion can sometimes serve as an excuse for people to commit heinous crimes and still have popular support based on a false sense of morality was perfectly delivered.
Script 2.5
Acting 1.5
Cinematography 1.5
Enjoy 0.7
6.2/10.
Femin1st, this Is a true patriarchy.
Despite some predictability in the plot, I still found the film highly enjoyable. What truly captivated me was the director's use of rawness to portray the stories of the women and their struggles in a cruel, patriarchal world lacking in humanity and empathy. If I had to sum up the film in one word, "raw" would be my choice.
Quite fascinating in its telling as this is as much a study of prejudice as it is a serial killer thriller. It's very disturbing in parts so certainly not for the squeamish.
A movie that looks like a carpet on his poster. Okay, but tediously woven from repetitive elements of oriental color - here is Faith, here are the Customs and Prohibitions, the general approval of the Wretchedness of one's life, but suddenly, the Pattern becomes intricate! Take a closer look, it is not just beautiful. But elegant gives simple answers to the right questions. No one, not even us, will get what they expect!
The first half is predictable, mostly a quite poor thriller, it could have been shortened easily. The real film here is in the second half, which shows and reports what Iran is now.
A good movie with a subtle take on a real event and good acting by the actors.
The good setting of the film is in accordance with the Iranian society in the 60s of the Islamic calendar.
An uncensored film about the lives of Iranians and their situation.
Good show. Corruptions in Iran's administrative and governance society.
It is as clumsy as it is thriller as it is social narrative about the position of women in Iranian society. The director achieves a disturbing atmosphere but creates a profile of a serial killer that is basic and manipulative, through violent scenes that seem to seek more impact than depth in the character's psychology. He also manipulates reality through a main character who seems like a fantasy, reconstructing a veracity to the taste of director, who traces messages of empowerment that are simple and inconsequential. So that the alleged denunciation ends up being empty and inert.
Review by Saint PaulyBlockedParent2022-07-14T14:50:00Z
Like a director's cut of Law & Order: SVU, Holy Spider is 2 hours long, based on a true story and all about hunting down a serial killer and then trying to prosecute him.
While the film meanders and stalls a bit in the middle, the ambitious project hits more bases than it misses. It takes on misogyny in general (not all men but it's always a man), women's rights in Iran specifically, and religious fundamentalism globally. While this is a lot to do justice to in one film, justice is eventually served.
Shout out to Iranian / Swiss writer / director Ali Abbasi (whose Border I really liked) for really leaving his mark on this film. "My intention was not to make a serial killer movie. I wanted to make a movie about a serial killer society."
Also, shout out to lead actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi who won best actress for her performance at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Tragically, she was forced to leave Iran in 2008 after an intimate film of her and her lover was stolen by the friend of a friend and sold on the black market in Iran (which, BTW, condemned Holy Spider and all the attention it garnered at Cannes).
Interestingly enough, Ebrahimi was originally only the casting director for this film, but stepped into the lead role when an actor backed out. After watching her in the movie, that happenstance feels more like destiny.
A bit jumbled at moments, Holy Spider could've used one more editing pass, but in this case it's better to have too much rather than not enough.
(Trigger Warning for multiple assaults against women.)