Direction: Lawrence Michael Levine
Country: USA
Divided into two equally gripping parts, Black Bear lives from a cynical script, which hooks us into a story of artistic deception and jealousy. Alternating between the cerebral and the experimental, this is a successful exercise in meta-cinema styled with the uneasy flair of Cassavettes by the writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries, 2014).
Aubrey Plaza, the star of Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) and Ingrid Goes West (2017), is Allison, an insecure actor turned filmmaker who arrives by herself at a remote lake house in the Adirondack Mountains. In a desperate attempt to overcome writer’s block, she seeks inspiration from the sinister surroundings, a big black bear, and the pugnacious couple of hosts who welcomes her - Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair (Sarah Gadon). She then writes about two different realities, both with wildly tumultuous endings.
The mordant dialogues, apt score, and non-linear narrative render both tense and embarrassing situations, which are frequently fueled by substance intoxication and lust. There are no stall moments, but the manipulation is undeniable. Curious statements about the falsehoods of the cinema world are also memorable - “movies aren’t everything” or a candid wish to revert to the normal people they were before the movies. A provocative film that holds our interest.
