Black Bear is an American comedy-drama thriller film directed by Lawrence Michael Levine. It stars Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott, and Sarah Gadon in pivotal roles. It was released on 4th December 2020 on VOD.
The film starts by showing Allison (Aubrey Plaza), a film writer-director arrives at a lake house, far away from civilization and is owned by a couple, Gabe (Christopher Abbot) and his girlfriend Blair (Sarah Gadon), and their house is always open for artists if they want to shoot. At the night they had dinner together and after that when they all get drunk, even though when Blair is pregnant, everything messes up and Gabe and Blair starts to fight and accuses him that he likes Allison and she saw him the way he was seeing her. Gabe unintentionally pushed Blair, and she starts to bleed and Gabe tells Allison to start the car but they got bumped into a Black Bear.
Now the same thing starts again, the same faces but, but, but, now Gabe and Allison are husband and wife and there we see it's a film shooting going on and Gabe is the director and Allison is the actress playing the role of Blair from the first set up and Blair is playing Allison. But their names are not interchanged. Yeah, it's very confusing. So what's the link between these two abruptly changed sequences?
Lawrence Michael Levine has written the film. These kinds of movies are to be enjoyed alone as everyone will be having their own decoded theories. The last film, this perplexing was I'm Thinking Of Ending Things, and now that list has got a new addition, Black Bear. The film has been divided into two parts, first part is "the bear in the road", which starts by showing Allison reaching the lake house and is welcomed by Gabe, they had a small interaction, where we at least get to know them, followed by a brilliantly executed dinner scene and after that when they were chilling and drinking, their conversation takes an ugly turn when they while expressing ideas about feminism, and how the world is an unclean place which really upsets Blair whereas Allison and Gabe are supporting each other with their ideas.
This whole sequence is so much absorbing and engaging but everything changes when Allison hits the bear on the road with the car and suddenly everything restarts, but still is the same, the setup and the actors, everything but the atmosphere is more chaotic as more actors are here. This part is called " the bear by the boat house" and Allison is sitting by the lake and it's revealed that it's a film shooting going on. Here Gabe and Allison are married and Gabe tries to make an impression that he's attracted towards Blair so that Allison could give her cent percent to her performance being jealous.
It could be like Allison is experimenting with her script and three times she's shown writing, finally naming it Black Bear. The second part changes the arresting dynamics of the three leads from the first part but trust me it never gets boring. The film is deep and showcases the process of developing a script and writing a story by a professional writer, here Allison, and you might have a different theory about this film which I'm looking forward to if you want to share in the comment section.
Aubrey Plaza is phenomenal here as Allison, she is terrific in every scene especially in the second half, where she outshines everyone with her over-the-top performance. I'm looking forward to seeing her getting nominated and winning a couple of awards because she deserves it. Christopher Abbott as Gabe is another gem, and here he is outstanding and Sarah Gadon as Blair is also good.
The cinematography by Robert Leitzell is good and effective and his camera work truly enhances the drama with the support of minimal background music and with the production design by Tracy Dishman and the beautiful set and the surroundings which never change in the movie giving an immersive experience.
Black Bear is confusing but is never boring. Levine's unique story is very much deep and not easy to catch, but its darkness and realism are what to look at here, and of course it's newness. The interactions and the striking chemistry between the three leads is the soul of the film and it's due to that, Levine's experimental storyline works presenting a mind of a writer like an open book in the most fascinating way. If you're learning filmmaking, this is what you need to see.
Rating:- 3.5/5
Now available via Video On Demand.
Hope you have liked this post. Follow and hit the bell button to Subscribe and tap on filmreviewsloop for more reviews and recommendations. Feel free to comment or to give any suggestions, I'm all ears.
0 Comments