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ITSY BITSY
Director: Micah Gallo Cast: Elizabeth Roberts, Bruce Davison, Arman Darbo, Chloe Perrin, Denise Crosby, Treva Etienne MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:34 Release Date: 8/30/19 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 29, 2019 The big spider seems like an afterthought in Itsy Bitsy. That's not a comment about the spider itself, which is a bit larger than your average house cat. The creature is brought to life by way of a convincing puppet, and its movements possess the quaint charm of stop-motion animation. The approach is refreshing at a time when filmmakers—even ones making lower-budget movies like this one—would rather go the digital route for special effects. The physical spider isn't a problem, then. It's the way that writer/director Micah Gallo incorporates the venomous arachnid into this story, which could have used either a lot more of the deadly monster or a lot less of it. As things stand, the spider feels more like a tease in the first act and a matter of story convenience (a great inconvenience for the characters, obviously) to clean up all the messy drama by the finale. The real story is about a single mother and nurse named Kara (Elizabeth Roberts), who has moved with her kids, Jesse (Arman Darbo) and Cambria (Chloe Perrin), from the city to the country. Her new job is as a caretaker for Walter (Bruce Davison), a retired archeologist (perhaps), who ends up in possession of an ancient, egg-shaped relic. There's a lot of lore behind this thing, from the legend of a spider goddess to Walter and his late wife's connection to Ahkeeba (Treva Etienne), who was once part of the tribe that possessed the egg. He brings it to Walter for reasons that are partially explained, only to be forgotten. The central point is that there's a big spider inside the egg. While Kara deals with a prescription opioid addiction and the guilt of losing a child in a car accident, the spider scurries between the main characters' homes, nesting its eggs and more than occasionally giving Gallo the chance to put these characters in immediate but anticlimactic peril. One wonders if there is something supernatural to the creature, since it seems capable of teleporting to wherever the next jump scare is. The focus on Kara is admirable, if a bit misguided. The entire story of Itsy Bitsy is just an excuse for a final showdown between the characters and the spider. In the meantime, we're just left wondering which side Gallo sees as the bigger distraction from the other. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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