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Paper Spiders Review: A Nightmarish Portrayal of Mental Illness Complicates This Well-Acted Coming-of-Ager Paper Spiders Review: A Nightmarish Portrayal of Mental Illness Complicates This Well-Acted Coming-of-Ager
Excellent performances by Lili Taylor and Stefania LaVie Owen ground this compassionate, slightly over-burdened tale of a mother and daughter riven by delusional disorder.
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Director: Inon Shampanier
With: Lili Taylor, Stefania LaVie Owen, Ian Nelson, Peyton List, Max Casella, David Rasche, Michael Cyril Creighton, Tom Papa.
Running time: Running time: 110 MIN.
Entertainment Squad
“Paper Spiders” opens on a dynamic played out in countless American coming-of-age stories, as bright-eyed high school senior Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen) and her doting single mother Dawn (Lili Taylor) tour the USC college campus on which the former has her heart set. As Melanie gawps in wonder, Dawn surveys the place with a critical eye
‘Paper Spiders,’ new Syracuse movie out today, scores 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes
Updated May 07, 11:34 AM;
Posted May 07, 11:31 AM
Lili Taylor, left, and Stefania LaVie Owen appear in a scene from Paper Spiders, a new movie filmed in Syracuse.
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A new movie filmed in Syracuse is out in time for Mother’s Day with a top score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Paper Spiders,” a mother-daughter drama starring Emmy-nominated actress Lili Taylor (“Say Anything,” “Mystic Pizza”) and Stefania LaVie Owen (”The Carrie Diaries”), was released in select theaters nationally Friday (May 7, 2021). The film is not showing on the big screen in Central New York, but it’s also available today for rent or purchase on Video on Demand (VOD) / Digital platforms like Amazon and Apple iTunes.
College applications, high school parties, first love, graduation. In “Paper Spiders,” directed and co-written by Inon Shampanier, the specter of mental illness looms large over these typical milestones of the high school coming-of-age movie. A prom night pickup is bathed in the red and blue lights of a police cruiser; a graduation ceremony is interrupted by paranoid delusions. Even the handsome hunk struggles with alcoholism.
Lili Taylor stars as Dawn, the caring mother of the bright Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen). Mother and daughter are two halves of a whole, sharing meals, crossword puzzles, even date nights. They are especially close since the sudden death of Melanie’s father a few years earlier, and with college looming in the future, Dawn is anxious about losing her, regretting that she encouraged Melanie to get straight As, while Melanie has her sights set on a scholarship at her father’s alma mater, USC.
Paper Spiders deftly deals with complicated mental health issues
Phil on Film
Director Inon Shampanier, who co-wrote the film with his wife, Natalie Shampanier, shows a calm and nuanced touch when dealing with mental health issues in Paper Spiders.
By: Phil Villarreal
and last updated 2021-05-04 23:32:31-04
TUCSON, Ariz. â A college-bound high school senior, Melanie s got bigger things on her plate than graduation announcements, Senior Ditch Day, and prom.
The hardest lessons in her life come from Dawn (Lili Taylor), her mother, who battles mental health issues that she refuses to acknowledge she has. Paper Spiders which opens in theaters and VOD May 7 takes a long, often excruciating look at the challenges of trying to help a loved one dealing with paranoia and delusions. Fueled by Taylor s showy performance and Stefania LaVie s muted angst as Melanie, the drama avoids the usual Hollywood shortcuts as it sketches its painful portrait.