As she approaches her 44th birthday, we celebrate an actor who can move from dreamy psychodrama for Sofia Coppola to gritty angst for Jane Campion
An elegant, sun-soaked Patricia Highsmith adaptation with fine work from Viggo Mortensen as a con man and Dunst as his wife, holidaying in early 1960s Athens when they meet an American tour guide (Oscar Isaac). It seems tantalisingly unclear at first whether his designs are on the chirpy young bride or her shady older husband.
The opening instalment in Sam Raimi’s trilogy featured that ingenious upside-down kiss, with MJ (Dunst) suggestively unpeeling the mask of Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) as he dangles beside her in an alleyway. But the middle movie gives her a few more notes to play – disgruntlement, vanity, that ambiguous final closeup – even if the whole thing ultimately comes down to her being rescued yet again, this time from the tentacles of Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina).
Director Joe Dante taps into the spirit of his earlier Gremlins in another tale of gifts run amok, as toys fitted with US military microchips become sentient – and savage. Dunst is the teen menaced by her own collection of scissor-wielding “Gwendy” dolls. “Now it’s our turn to play with you!” they announce as they swarm over her like Lilliputians on Gulliver. Then, among themselves: “Let’s see if her head comes off …”
