I figured if I never learned to cook, I'd never become a housewife
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Films of 2021
#41 : Black Bear
Aubrey Plaza hits a career high in an ingenious meta-movie in which social tensions spiral towards disaster before a cryptic rug-pull in this strange comedy gem.
I've heard this is good but confusing (and the phrase "cryptic rug-pull" would seem to confirm this), so went in with a cautiously hopeful mindset.
And what I should say at this point is that if you like quirky, arthouse US indies and you haven't seen this, then you might like to stop reading this now because I am going to be a bit spoiler-ish. The other 95% of you can continue reading knowing perfectly well you're never going to get around to watching this.
So, it has an intriguing beginning where our main character (Aubrey Plaza) is sitting on a jetty in the middle of a lake, gets up and heads indoors to sit down by the window where she writes a heading in her book. And the film tells us we're watching Part 1 - "The Bear In The Road".
And in this, she's getting a lift somewhere where she sits down by the window - before getting up to head outside where she then sits on a jetty in the middle of a lake. Interesting! Part 1 is a three hander where Allison (Aubrey Plaza) has gone to stay with Gabe (Christopher Abbott - who was in the Catch 22 TV series, which is worth checking out) and Blair (Sarah Gadon) who are a couple who are obviously having issues. And Allison doesn't help matters, constantly switching viewpoints and allegiances in the conversation in order to generate conflict - the whole thing is very awkward and stilted (at one point someone says "You're really hard to read" which does make me wonder how meta the whole thing is going to get). Some further awkward and not easily explained conversation and actions happen (including sex between two people who shouldn't be having sex) which result in all the characters having to get into the car and drive - at which point they meet the bear in the road, by crashing into it. Fade to black...
...and the film announces we're in part 2 - "The Bear By The Boathouse". And she's back on the jetty!
Well, if I was confused before then I can assure you I'm massively confused now. The same people are in this part, but playing different roles - and there are a load of other people involved. And they're making a film within the film (another indication that things are getting very meta) - in this case, Allison and Gabe are the couple having issues and basically everyone has a meltdown, has sex with people they shouldn't and throws coffee over other people. I must admit I found it intriguing, but only to see if it made any sense. But it didn't - and then the bear turned up at the boathouse. Fade to black...
And we're back on the jetty, then back sat by the window and back writing in the book - and this time we see what she writes - "Black Bear". And that's it. WHAT?!?
Now hold on a goddam minute - have we just had a "and then she woke up, and it was all a dream" moment? That was my first thought and I have to admit I was exceptionally unimpressive by the whole thing. However, I did Google things to see what others thought (and things get very spoiler-y now, but they also might actually improve your enjoyment of the film) and the general consensus was that the film was a meditation on the writing process and the black bear was a metaphor for writer's block. Which actually makes some kind of sense because the first part was very sparse and unfocussed whereas the second had a lot more content and tried more things out - and they both came to a stop when the bear arrived.
So, I can see that if you are of an artistic persuasion then you may possibly engage with this film more than I did on first viewing. And I might possibly engage more with it on a second viewing - but that's never gonna happen, so I'm left feeling mildly disappointed by the whole thing. I'd also have to argue with The Guardian's description of it as a "strange comedy gem" because it's just not funny. Unless you find people throwing coffee over each other funny - but it's really not that kind of a film anyway. So I'm more than a little perplexed by the whole thing.
I would say it's beautifully filmed in a gorgeous location - a lot of the scenes take place indoors or at night and the lighting is done really well. It's also well acted, even if what they're being asked to do often makes no sense in the slightest. It's really Aubrey's (cool name, cool lady - and anyone who has been in Scott Pilgrim, Parks & Recreation and Legion is obviously fine by me) vehicle and, as usual, she delivers her dry, wry performance - for the first half anyway before she has a spectacular meltdown. But everyone else supports her ably in doing whatever it is they're doing.
It's also another film featuring the c word - I think we've had as many in the first 10 this year as we had all of last year (we've had a lot more English language films as well).
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a high critics rating and a considerably lower audience rating - and the audience comments are very polarised. Personally, I think it was beautifully shot and reasonably intriguing, but failed to deliver on the intrigue which just resulted in disappointment for me. If you like "this sort of thing" then this is a good example of it - but I suspect most people will not be in the slightest bit interested in such a big old pile of nonsense.
At time of writing, it's available to rent in most of the usual locations - personally, I wouldn't bother, but you're a grown-up, so I'll let you decide!
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