Movie Review: Paper Spiders
One-liner: strong co-lead performances and sharp writing underscore this authentic, entertaining and heartfelt coming-of-age drama.
Paper Spiders is a bittersweet coming-of-age drama, starring Stefania LaVie Owen and Lili Taylor, about a precarious mother-daughter relationship as a recent loss, Melanie’s out-of-town college application and an argument with a neighbour compound Dawn’s growing anxiety. Coming to terms with their new life without dad, worried about the next chapter as a lone empty nester and scared of her neighbour’s willfull acts of hostility, Dawn’s life is unravelling as she struggles to cope with the onset of paranoid delusions.
Paper Spiders is a tender, touching and powerful film from screenwriters Inon and Natalie Shampanier as directed by Inon Shampanier. Having worked together on The Millionaire Tour and Beautiful & Twisted, this is their third outing as co-writers, delivering their best film yet. Taking an unabashed view of living with mental illness, this is an honest chronicle of what it must be like to love and live with someone in the throes of a nervous breakdown.
The Shampaniers have composed a nuanced drama from the perspective of a 17-year-old trying to get through her last year of high school unscathed. Melanie tries to rationalise her mother’s increasingly paranoid behaviour in order to come alongside her mother by offering emotional support during a tough transitional phase. However, as much as Melanie seeks answers, new questions continue to emerge as Dawn’s delusions and paranoia escalate way beyond the professional abilities of a well-meaning high school guidance councillor.
Paper Spiders premiered on TNT Africa: Sunday, 14 May at 20:00 CAT. You can catch repeats on Friday, 19 May at 18:40 CAT and Wednesday, 7 June at 10:06 CAT and it’s currently available via DStv Catch Up.
Paper Spiders doesn’t try to downplay the stress of living with mental illness. The smart and thoughtful script offers unique emotional insights from both sides of the mother-daughter coin as things progress. Using touches of humour, the filmmakers maintain a life-like balance of light and dark without capsizing either way. Painting the dramedy with choice words and visual metaphors, they strike a fine balance as an impressionable yet open-hearted young woman comes of age.
Growing up and leaving home for college is a central issue at the heart of the much-adored series Gilmore Girls. There are similar relational dynamics at play in Paper Spiders as the roles of mother and daughter become interchangeable at times and a wayward rebel-without-a-cause boyfriend enters the fray. Yet, this isn’t Star’s Hollow, it’s Syracuse. A family portrait of mental health, Melanie tries to protect her mother from herself as she deals with the fallout of her unpredictable behaviour.
“Ah, the wisdom of butterflies.”
Playing off the same paranoia and suspense of tense neighbourly relations in Disturbia, Paper Spiders cleverly immerses us in Melanie’s point-of-view at home, siding with her mom as slow-boiling suspicions of a neighbour take centre stage. Taking a similar slant to The Edge of Seventeen and even Juno, authentic situational high school drama unfurls from a teenager’s perspective, compelled by an impressive lead performance.
The acting in Paper Spiders is generally excellent, honouring the strong screenplay’s textured characters with full-fledged performances. Sharing co-lead responsibilities, Stefania LaVie Owen and Lili Taylor have an organic chemistry and unquestionable familiarity. While Dawn’s anxiety escalates quickly, their authentic and lived performances anchor the bittersweet drama. Taylor’s depiction of a woman steadily losing a battle with paranoid delusions has a raw honesty, marked by a similar unflinching emotional intensity to Frances McDormand.
While Taylor delivers hard-hitting truth, its Owen who tempers Paper Spiders with a grounded and soulful turn. Having risen through the ranks as a child actor with performances in The Lovely Bones and Running Wilde, Owen has developed into a fine actor, confident enough to trust her acting instincts. Paper Spiders gives her the floor with ample screen time to unearth an impressive performance, where there’s never a false moment. Inhabiting Melanie, Owen is the golden thread that gives Paper Spiders its default, able to return to Owen’s homeostasis as quirky or unsettling as things get.
Taylor and Owen give Paper Spiders emotional heft, but its Peyton List, David Rasche, Max Casella, Michael Cyril Creighton, Tom Papa and Ian Nelson who help realise the film’s tone. While representing different hues, there isn’t a weak link from this team ensemble of character actors, each bringing a different kind of quirk to the highs and lows of this emotional journey. The pick of the supporting cast is easily Ian Nelson, who has a modern James Dean energy as Daniel, delivering a charming and even delightful performance as a flawed romantic interest to Melanie.
Paper Spiders has a gloomy disposition and visual aesthetic that aligns it with Donnie Darko. Both slow-boiling psychological dramas and emotional thrillers with their quirks and notes of humour, they diverge at the point of fantasy where Donnie Darko’s surreal element and Halloween energy makes way for a much more sobering reality about broken people. The camera glides without drawing too much attention to itself, subtle enough to trade in a haunting beauty without overselling symbolism.
This is a nuanced and layered coming-of-age drama that takes an unfettered approach to its conversation around mental health. There are no quick fixes or even big red bows that can just make everything alright, making Paper Spiders an open-handed depiction and domestic portrait. Realised by the film finesse of its script, acting and heartbreaking authenticity, this entertaining, empathetic and timely chronicle offers a sense of hope even in the darkest hour.
The bottom line: Touching
If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges – or just wants to talk to someone to find out more – contact SADAG by calling 0800 567 567, texting 31393 or visiting www.sadag.org.
