This is my second attempt at writing about this film. The first effort went nowhere, and turned into a rambling, two-part essay on Aubrey Plaza that started and stopped and meandered. Ironically, that’s what the film Black Bear is like.
The film is a single story about infidelity, confusion of identity, and writer’s block. It’s told in two parts, in two different narratives. A husband is a dick to his wife while a woman with plausible deniability plays the focus of his infidelitous intentions. There’s also the theme of an artist having a hard time pulling convincing performances without strong emotional turmoil.
The standout elements in this film were Aubrey Plaza’s performance, and her co-lead with a punchable face, which is probably why he was cast in the role that he was in. Plaza’s performance, however, is what warrants watching the movie. Her standoffishness is leveraged to demonstrate a character who is out of touch, selfish, and ostracized in the first part, where she plays a failed actress who sleeps with the husband. In the second part, she plays the wife, abused by the husband to draw out a dramatic performance.
But all of that, and my other, unpublished 4-page monologue, is to say that this movie is a big shrug. It’s interesting, and the ‘two tales of the same story’ thing is cool too. The end of the movie may leave people scratching their heads, as it feels abrupt, and unresolved. The film does its best to work in themes and metaphors, but they’re not subtextual, which feels like a major negative if the movie is trying to be artsy and vague. It’s a true
YMMV
movie. I watched Black Bear on Hulu.
85scenes Reviews 