Black Bear is a psychological drama about a screenwriter Allison(Aubrey Plaza) who goes to a remote cabin to work on a script. Two vignettes unfold perhaps ideas for her scripts or fever dreams or memories or who knows what.
Plaza gives all she's got and she's compelling, after Parks & Rec she's made many indie films with wide ranging types of roles but also varied success. Here the material isn't worth her effort, she attempts to bring some emotional honesty and interest to what is pretentious writer/director's Lawrence Michael Levine "artsy" dramatization of his banal crude marital issues. Unfortunately Plaza is doomed to fail because the material is more appropriate for Days Of Our Lives than intrigue or catharsis. Than other main cast members are Sarah Gordon as Blair and Christopher Abbott as Gabe who are sufficient if uninspired. The supporting cast breathe much needed life into the movie but they serve basically as observers, instigators to the main trio's pedestrian "conflict".
The location, all shot at the remote cabin, is beautiful and evocative. The handheld camera work claustrophobic, nervy, and effective. The score pulsing and full of suspense if somewhat derivative. The production all in all is solid. But the substance is lacking and the movie hinges on this shift from one scenario to another with the actors shifting roles in a way that is a good thought experiment but confusing and flat in execution.
It is, in essence, a story about 30-something artists. But the behavior and issues the plot revolves around are more appropriate for privileged horny teenage theater kids revealing in the faux-drama of a cast party.
Available for rent on most VOD platforms.
Don't See It.
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