Set in a picturesque cabin in the woods, Black Bear joins filmmaker Allison (Aubrey Plaza) as she begins work on her next project. From there, things get awkward and strange, with the film breaking into two distinct and separate halves that keeps the viewer guessing until the finale. As with many films, Black Bear is best viewed knowing next to nothing about the project. This will ensure that the audience gets the full enjoyment of the journey offered by writer and director Lawrence Michael Levine.
Although I won’t go into exact plot details regarding the two parts of the film, I will say that Levine has cleverly worked them in such a way that they intimately interconnect. Even more cunningly, Levine has allowed for them to be connected in multiple ways, offering the viewer a multitude of readings into what is happening. It’s a tough concept to pull off, but Levine has crafted Black Bear in so that there is plenty of material to delve into in greater detail. Themes and plot points will likely birth several essays exploring all the intricacies and meanings behind all the different interpretations, enabling Black Bear to have a longer shelf-life than some of its peers.
At the heart of the film are the trio of Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon, and Possessor’s Christopher Abbott. The three have excellent chemistry together, and the nature of the story allows them to interact on different levels and in different meaningful ways. It’s hard enough to find two actors with great chemistry, and so to find three that work no matter what formation they are constructed into, is very impressive. Each holds their own perfectly and as with Levine’s changing narrative structure, the viewer can interpret each role in various ways, and can view any of them as hero or villain depending on the current setting. This means that the actors have an extremely tough job of conveying a plethora of ideas and emotions at any instance, but these three make it look easy.
Sarah Gadon is brilliant as Blair and Christopher Abbott continues the excellent work we saw from him in last year’s Possessor, but it is Aubrey Plaza who really stands apart. Plaza has made a career off of playing either the kooky weirdo, or the sex-mad party girl. However, recent years have seen her gravitate to projects that allow her to challenge herself; her role as a single-mother in Child’s Play being an early step outside of her ‘box’. In Black Bear, she retains elements of the characters that have amassed her an army of fans, whilst at the same time pushing herself farther than she has before. Allison is a tricky character to pin down, and thanks to the ever shifting nature of the narrative, Plaza gets to throw everything she has into the role. Her hard work pays off and this is easily her most riveting and absorbing performance to date.
Given the chameleon nature of the rest of the film, the tone also encompasses facets of multiple genres. Black Bear effortlessly flits from thriller, to drama, to horror, to comedy, and back again as it traverses the landscape of Levine’s twisting plot. This constant shift secures the viewer’s attention is retained, the tonal switches working in place of moving between locations. Visually, Black Bear signifies the film’s darker nature at all times. Most of the time is spent within the walls of one cabin, generating a claustrophobic atmosphere that gives way to instances of intensity that work well with the story beats.
Offering proof that Aubrey Plaza is capable of far more than the roles she has become famous for, Black Bear is a strange, yet compelling, mind twist of a movie.
Black Bear was reviewed at Glasgow Film Festival 2021.
Black Bear
Summary
With Black Bear, Lawrence Michael Levine has created an enigmatic and stimulating concept that will have you scratching your head in all the right ways.
