The Girl and the Spider (2021)

Lisa is moving out. Mara is left behind. As boxes are shifted and cupboards built, abysses begin to open up and an emotional roller coaster is set in motion. A tragicomic catastrophe film. A poetic ballad about change and transience.This one sentence says it all: “Nothing much happens and still there is always something going on.” Seemingly contradictory, so I’ll explain.In the beginning, I had trouble pinpointing the two divorcees and isolating them from the semi-crowd that is usually helping someone when leaving their old house and moving to a new apartment, all of them busy with carrying furniture, (re)building cabinets, painting walls, and so on. But not everyone is helping, and gradually we observe a constantly present negative force, not contributing anything to the move, but generally busy with tiny obstinate actions. No yelling, no slamming doors nor broken chinaware, merely verbally distorting mutual relationships without really breaking things.I did not find this movie compelling or otherwise a candidate for my list of favorites. The mini-cosmos is confusing when thrown into as an unprepared viewer, not knowing who-is-who nor whether who is important for the overarching plot, or just passing by like the neighbor’s cat. I would have welcomed some sort of “establishing shot” to highlight at least the two divorcees. Surely, a second viewing will overcome this problem, but I don’t care enough to undertake such an effort, due to lack of dramatic developments I’ll miss even more on a second pass. The story (if any) confines itself to small interactions, the latter only relevant and surpassing normal domestic interactions when overseeing the complete scenario and connecting the dots of aforementioned negative force. Some announcements for this movie mentioned a rollercoaster experience, but I don’t feel it that way.All in all, an entertaining watch regardless the lack of dramatic developments. Well made, despite the missing introduction of main protagonists, though the latter may be my problem and mine alone. I still see no reason to recommend this movie to family, friends and neighbors.