Black Bear

BLACK BEAR. There are a lot of things movies have done with homes out in the country, from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House through Withnail and I, and now with Black Bear. Lawrence Michael Levine’s film made a big splash at Sundance back around the start of this year (which of course now feels like it was in about 1983) and for good reason. An away-from-the-city setting can be a good fish-out-of-water story for sheer comedy or for unsettling terror. Black Bear manages to not fall under either of those headings and it would be hard to find one under which to file it — one of its boldest strengths. Actor-director Levine made 2014’s Wild Canaries and is also known as the spouse of filmmaker Sophia Takal, who in recent years directed Gabi on the Roof in July and last year’s memorable remake of the 1970s cult classic Black Christmas. Canaries certainly defied any easy characterization and, without giving too much away, that applies here, too. Offbeat psycodrama? Comic thriller? Trippy, Mobius strip-style narrative, only kinda not so? Sure, take your pick. Just see it and find out. Other than its aforementioned setting, which in this case is an impressively sprawling and yet also claustrophobic and unfriendly house in the Adirondack country of upstate New York, Black Bear’s real punch comes from lead Aubrey Plaza. Plaza’s career over the past decade has wound from TV to indie films, both in supporting roles and the occasional lead, with varying results. She’s worked mostly in comedy (and survived the Humboldt-filmed, er, peculiarity that was An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn, 2018). But this is a real breakout role. Plaza has a deadpan sensibility that’s nearly visible from space but she also possesses eyes capable of a hair-raising range of expression. Here she’s the first face and last face you see onscreen, wordlessly, and what she does in between propels the movie along. Actress-turned-director Allison arrives at the remote estate and is greeted by Gabe (Christopher Abbott, quite sharp here, as he was in a couple of seasons of HBO’s Girls), who is instantly a little flirty. This seems less than appropriate as the two walk up the road to the three-story house and are greeted by Gabe’s pregnant partner Blair (Sarah Gadon). The house has been in Gabe’s family for decades, and he and Sarah, refugees from New York City, are…



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