A bittersweet story about coming of age in the shadow of mental illness.
Two years after the untimely death of her beloved husband, Dawn (Lili Taylor) finds herself slowly going off her rocker. From odd comments to paranoid delusions, she never really knows when to keep her mouth shut. Dawn’s highly intelligent daughter Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen) soon hopes to attend her late father’s alma mater, the University of Southern California on an academic scholarship.
At Melanie’s high school in New York State where she is salutatorian, her immodest friend Lacy (Peyton List) vamps it up among any number of the boys there, setting not so great a role model. Toward the end of Melanie’s senior year, a rich kid named Daniel (Ian Nelson) enters her life, glibly sporting a fancy BMW convertible. Against all expectations, he doggedly pursues Melanie, much to her annoyance.
Back at home, Dawn begins to develop an obsession with the new next-door neighbor known only as Brody, who she believes is stalking her, throwing rocks at the house, and breaking in – all without leaving a trace. Though highly intelligent like her daughter, Dawn lets her obsessions take control of her life. During the day, she works for an attorney (David Rasche) as a paralegal, where her mania to pursue legal action against the unseen man in the house next door puts her job of six years in jeopardy.
In an effort to distract Dawn from her compulsive extracurricular activities, Melanie sets her mom up on a date with a guy named Howard (Tom Papa). Separately, Melanie goes out with Daniel, who takes her to a ritzy restaurant, where she quizzes him about his stint in rehab, which didn’t seem to accomplish much.
Meanwhile, at dinner with Howard, Dawn blithely opines on the healthiness of his menu selections, shooting down all of his prospective choices due to their high cholesterol content – no doubt regretting her husband’s early death at 54 from a heart attack. Over the course of the meal, Howard regales Dawn with his woeful account about how his wife left him for their financial advisor and apparently securing all of the couple’s assets in the process. The situation depicts an emerging cliché – the silver singles dating scene, putting on display two awkward people commiserating about their lonely plights.
On her second date with Howard, Dawn tries to suppress her suspicious tendencies with mixed results. Howard gamely plays along until he realizes the depth of Dawn’s aberrant psyche as she accuses Brody of directing electromagnetic pulses at her, which are triggering excruciating headaches. Not surprisingly and almost immediately, Dawn and Howard part on less than amicable terms.
Dawn’s behavior descends ever more erratically into a spiraling vortex. She hires a guy named Gary (Max Casella) to install expensive surveillance gear on her house in order to investigate Brody’s mischief. Melanie intervenes with Gary to explain that he is feeding her mother’s condition, and they reach a tentative understanding about bringing the matter to some conclusion.
Yet still, the saga continues. Michael Cyril Creighton as Mr. Wessler, the high school counselor, applies his unlicensed therapeutic method to the analysis. Though his degree in psychology from Mississippi Gulf State University rightly fails to impress Dawn, she embraces his diagnosis that she may suffer from delusional behavior by projecting it right back on to Brody.
Even though Melanie has her act together, she has little recourse for reining in her mother. And despite Daniel’s own tattered baggage, he at least provides a pleasant enough diversion to her mother’s travails. On a day date at Daniel’s upscale home, replete with well-appointed living areas, he immediately unlocks his parent’s liquor cabinet and makes drinks. Later that evening, Melanie confides in Daniel about her mother’s worsening condition after the death of her father.
Finally, when Dawn says she’s going to go live in her car because Brody only attacks her when she is in the house, Melanie realizes that her mom has completely lost it. Still, Melanie dutifully prepares and brings food out to the car parked out front on the curb. She takes a waitressing job to pay the bills.
When notification of a full scholarship from USC finally arrives in the mail, Melanie is understandably conflicted. Good news for Melanie, but what will become of her mother?
Written along with Natalie Shampanier, Inon Shampanier also directs. This Mother’s Day release of a coming of age story centering on a parent’s mental illness relays a painful portrait, sometimes difficult to watch. Coinciding with the start of Mental Health Awareness Month and showcasing a superb cast, “Paper Spiders” tells a tale full of sadness that leaves audiences with the kind of uncertain hope that perhaps only family members can embrace.
In Select Theaters and on VOD Friday, May 7th
