Another rising Hollywood star from Wellington has a new film in cinemas this weekend.
Her name is Stefania LaVie Owen and the film is called Paper Spiders.
A big-screen big-lead role well and truly holding her own opposite one of the best character actors there is - Lili Taylor - Kiwi actor Stefania LaVie Owen is certainly one to watch.
This is Paper Spiders.
This role is no walk in the park. Owen plays teenager Melanie who must journey into the darkness of her mother's mental illness, the slow unravelling of her mother's reality becoming her own.
Telling a story like this needs a delicate touch and hard-to-balance accessibility and sensitivity and that balance works.
Narratively a few distracting plot surges and ebbs and some weaker supporting roles disconnected me from the story, but this film and both the lead performances have already been lauded across the film festival circuit - both women are simply terrific.
A rewarding three-star watch.
