Momentum Pictures
What is lost from this year’s edition of Glasgow Film Festival from shifting entirely online is being made up for in the countless indie powerhouses and hidden gems of films in this year’s programme. On the opening night of GFF last week my Twitter feed was flooded with loyal audiences of the festival making their home viewing experience as close as possible to the usual pizazz of the opening gala at the Glasgow Film Theatre. Audiences dressed up in their living rooms, poured some bubbly and enjoyed the UK premiere of Lee Isaac Chung’s long awaited Minari.
Another highly anticipated screening which followed was Black Bear, written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine. Going into Black Bear, I realised I knew very little about the film. I had only seen the above image of Aubrey Plaza looking deadpan, staring straight through us and directly into the camera. Perhaps she is in a remote location, but it is hard to tell with the background so out of focus. This is the very image that Black Bear opens with and returns to throughout the film. Missing out on the usual pleasures of cinemagoing, I hadn’t even seen the trailer for the film. As it happens, this is how Levine would have it as he stated in the director’s Q+A after the screening.
“The less you know the better” is becoming a frequented phrase around films. It comes at a time where opinions and discourse around films waft through social media feeds, often unavoidable before you get the chance to see the film yourself. But in the case of Black Bear, a film which the director describes as belonging to “the cinema of disorientation”, the less you know the better is absolutely the case.
Black Bear is a lot of things. It has notes of John Cassavetes and leans stylistically next to the work of Hong San-soo. Particular scenes of the film unravel like a stage play, the dialogue at times feeling drafty but expertly crafted at the same time. It is a film about the process of writing, creating, and acting. Fiction and reality dance together, a layer to which Levine adds by stating that he felt many aspects of the film were autobiographical. Most strikingly, it is a character study of characters.
Aubrey Plaza, whose mastery in deadpan comedy made for perfect casting, gives a nuanced performance whipped together with a wide-ranging spectrum of emotions. Her supporting actor Christopher Abbott gives a brilliant if not frustrating performance that will make your jaw clench. Little should be said about Black Bear too soon; but it is a film that will have you lean in closer and closer to the screen from start to finish.
Comentarios