The Praying Mantis: A weird, quiet little crawl

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that feel like a dusty attic you haven't opened in twenty years, sure. Watch it if you enjoy atmosphere over plot. Skip it if you get restless when nothing happens for ten minutes straight. It’s a slow, weird crawl, not a sprint.

Charmian de Forde is doing a lot of heavy lifting here with just her eyes. There’s a specific scene where she’s staring at a telephone that just sits there, silent, and you can practically hear her brain ticking. It’s almost too quiet.

The pacing is… well, it’s a choice. Sometimes it feels like the director just forgot to yell 'cut.' There’s this one shot of a hallway that goes on for so long I started checking my own living room to make sure no one was standing in the corner.

It reminded me a bit of the tension you find in Husbands and Wives, but without the neurotic shouting. Just the quiet, grinding gears of people who shouldn't be together.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Praying Mantis (1931) through its definitive frames.

Small observations from the back of the notebook:

• The lighting in the kitchen scene is inexplicably orange. It’s distracting in a way I kind of liked.
• I swear the same background noise of a bird chirping plays three times in different locations.
• Charmian’s coat looks like it weighs fifty pounds. She carries it like a burden.

The movie hits a weird stride about halfway through. It stops trying to be a mystery and starts being a character study of a person who is clearly losing their grip. It’s not profound, but it feels honestly messy.

There’s a moment with a glass of water that felt so real I actually reached for my own drink. Tiny, stupid detail, but it stuck with me. Unlike the big, sweeping dramatic beats that feel a bit like they were pulled from a script generator.

I wouldn't call this a masterpiece. I wouldn't even call it 'great.' But it has a soul. It’s the kind of film you’d find on a dusty shelf in a rental store and wonder why no one else picked it up. 🦗

It’s not trying to win an award. It’s just trying to be itself, even if it’s a bit weird and awkward at dinner parties. I respect that.