Paper Spiders

Paper Spiders

Directed by Inon Shampanier
U.S. | 2019 | Narrative
110 minutes | English

In this bittersweet story about coming of age in the shadow of mental illness, all Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen, “The Beach Bum,” “The Carrie Diaries”) wants is a normal senior year. But her life turns upside down when her mother, Dawn (Lili Taylor, "Mystic Pizza," “Perry Mason,” “American Crime”), begins to suffer from paranoid delusions. Melanie recently lost her father and cannot bear to watch her mother lose her mind. Melanie attempts a series of interventions, but challenging Dawn’s reality destroys their relationship. As Dawn’s paranoia spirals out of control, her daughter is forced to make the toughest of choices. The Hollywood Reporter writes: “Inspired by personal experience with a loved one, husband-and-wife screenwriting partners Inon and Natalie Shampanier take a straightforward and empathetic approach to their story of one woman’s persecutory delusional disorder, or what’s sometimes referred to in lay terms as paranoia. ‘Paper Spiders’ is a message film, but one that's spiked with welcome humor, and its excellent cast is led by the reliably compelling Lili Taylor as the afflicted woman, tormented and tormenting, and Stefania LaVie Owen as her smart and sensitive daughter.”