Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott are both really strong here, and in the earliest moments of the film, I felt they were both fascinating to watch. The film's plot (or where it starts at least) felt gleefully awkward and uncomfortable. Both actors played this brilliantly, creating a true sense of discomfort and eeriness. Perhaps it was this start which made me expect something. And as the film started to turn they both stayed the course while the story didn't do them any favours. Their performances became a bit intentionally campy in a way that just wasn't satisfying.
The film starts to play out its tricky little plot but by the time it circles around I'm not sure what ends up happening is satisfying at all. There is a big question at the end of why? Not what is motivating the characters, but why did this story need to be told? It just never felt impactful. By the end it just feels like random musings and not a tale of any import or significance. Maybe this would have worked if the middle had been engaging enough to make me not care that it all amounts to nothing but the plot itself is on the boring side so the fact that the ending didn't deliver was even more frustrating.
The film ends where it starts. Honestly I guessed that from the beginning (or the film rea and I guess that disappointed me, that the film didn't' take me anywhere new. But even at that, the film doesn't offer me a reason for having taken this particular journey, nothing that made it's runtime worthwhile, perhaps except to watch some actors do a pretty good job with very little.
Black Bear
Staring: Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon, Christopher Abbott
Writer/Director: Lawrence Michael Levine
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