THE SPIDER AND THE BEE is a film by David Lynch, released in July of 2020 on his YouTube channel. The name is very descriptive: this is a 12 minute long video where a cobweb spider kills a bee in its web, and then wraps it in silk.
This short movie was shot with what looks to be a normal smartphone camera, a few inches away from the action. The camera shifts angles by a few inches, but other than that, there is very little technique to filming. It is edited, seemingly, and is perhaps sped-up. The main thing that is added is an atmospheric sound track of sound effects and ambient noise that turns what would be a cell phone video of a common occurrence into...a David Lynch movie. The movie, in 12 minutes, manages to build up an air of tension, assisted by the weird buzzing and staccato clicks that accompany the movement of the spider's legs. Somehow, out of the barest ingredients, Lynch constructs something that manages to get into the viewer's consciousness.
In short, David Lynch isn't a horror director, this isn't really even a "movie" by most definitions, and yet this is a horror movie that makes the viewer stop, think and feel. What are we supposed to be thinking about? The transient nature of life? What are we supposed to be feeling? Fear? Suspense? Wonder? While it is hard to say, it is easy to see that this is meant to provoke something.
Which brings up the idea of transparency. When we view this, we probably don't think "This is a story about a spider and a bee", we probably think "this is David Lynch taking us on a journey through the subconscious". (or something). This doesn't come across as a transparent story--- few people would watch this and think "This is a documentary". And the odd part about that is that, compared to both documentaries, this is much less stylized. If this seems like an unusual statement, watch this scene (for example) from National Geographic detailing three cheetahs attacking an ostrich. Compare it to THE SPIDER AND THE BEE in terms of editing, narration, camera angles, sound effects and music, and it is clear that the typical "nature documentary" uses various stylizations to highlight its story. And yet, someone viewing the cheetah scene would say that it is transparent: that its theme, is indeed, the hunting habits of big cats. On the other hand, few people viewing THE SPIDER AND THE BEE would think Lynch was attempting to educate us about arachnids and their feeding habits. THE SPIDER AND THE BEE seems to have some theme other than its literal subject matter---but there is no justification in saying so, because it is much more minimal than a typical nature documentary.