For those only familiar with the musical gravitas he provides in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, it would be best to seek out those films to show you why I consider him one of my favorite film composers, perhaps second only to Carter Burwell. He's also done some "middle-ground" work for Ed Wood, High Fidelity, and That Thing You Do!, which only highlight his range.

(The blending of past and present has to do with several scenes in which the adult Spider appears in the frame--or a neighboring one--with the boy Spider for most of the film's "flashbacks." It's worth noting how it is the former who follows the cues of the latter quite often in the film, subtly expressing the way mental illness makes one feel helpless and incapacitated.)

When I first saw this film, I was afraid I would sorely miss Carol Spier's production design and how it brilliantly meshes with Cronenberg's films, but Andrew Sanders presents himself as more-than-adequate to the task.

It's an excellent film, and I'm willing to call it a perfect one, at least in its conjunction of form and content. Nevertheless, like so many films I love, it's not something I can easily recommend to just about anyone, even while I consider it in such superlative terms. That said, if you read through this and find yourself interested, you could do so much worse than indulging that curiosity.