THE ART OF LIFE (BLACK BEAR)

 

Lawrence Michael Levine's 'Black Bear' is a game of two halves.

That's not being glib - it really is.

A twisty, indie, darkly comic psychological thriller full of unbearable sexual tension, it toys with its audience once and then it toys with them all over again.

Aubrey Plaza stars as Allison, who is working on a screenplay but who we see at the start of the film sitting on a dock by a lake in a red swimsuit.

She eventually gets up to fold her towel before retreating to her cabin.

It is an image that serves as a prelude to the first half of Levine's film and it recurs several times throughout.

The first half of the film, subtitled 'Part I: The Bear in the Road,' sees Allison arrive at a forestside retreat in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York where she is greeted by Christopher Abbott's Gabe.

As they walk through the forest on the way to the lodge that Gabe shares with his pregnant partner Sarah Gadon's Blair, we discover Allison is a well known director who was previously an actress.

Carrying her luggage, Gabe flirts with Allison and vice versa until they reach the lodge where Blair is putting out the bins.

There's an awkward conversation as Allison and Blair tell each other how pretty they are, how much Allison loves Blair's overalls and how much Blair loves Allison's bag.

Gabe shows Allison to her quarters and as she goes about the business of relaxing and going for a lakeside swim, there is a palpable tension between the couple.

This comes even more sharply into focus when they entertain Allison for dinner, with Blair belittling Gabe's aspirations as a musician and him criticising her for drinking.

At first, the couple look like they are competing over Allison but as the 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' bickering gets more pointed, the subject turns to her.

Blair, in particular, gets very irritated by comments Allison makes in support of Gabe and eventually she accuses him of fawning over their guest and wanting to sleep with her.

The couple have a furious row as Allison slips back to her quarters but when she decides to go for a midnight swim, events spiral out of control.

Suddenly 'Run, Lola Run' style, we get another story entitled 'Part II: The Bear By The Boat House' in which the lodge is being used as a film set.

Levine's script takes us to a tumultuous final day of shooting, with Allison sitting on the dock in her swimsuit while a camera crew captures her.

As the day unfolds, the tables are turned.

Allison's actress is the paranoid one as she observes Gabe as the director and Blair as a fellow cast member apparently flirt with each other.

Increasingly insecure about her relationship with Gabe, Allison gets drunk before the filming of a crucial scene which replicates the climactic row in the other story.

Gabe and Blair, however, appear to be co-conspirators in an effort to whip Allison into the fury required for the scene.

However Allison's drinking jeopardises this plan, while Paola Lazaro's Assistant Director Laura also struggles with diarrhoea on set which she blames on some dodgy weed.

Jennifer Kim's assistant Nora also fails to keep Allison in check and and Grantham Coleman's cameraman Baako soon becomes the object of her affections.

In a running joke, several members of the crew keep bumping into each other and the cast in the tight confines of the lodge, knocking coffee over Allison and adding to the pressure cooker atmosphere on set.

After securing the intensity he wants from Allison for the final scene, Gabe wraps up the shoot and a party takes place.

However when Blair decides to go for a midnight dip in the lake, events again spiral out of control.

With its two versions of a story, 'Black Bear' is one of those playful movies that thrives on making its audience uncomfortable and it enjoys toying with their emotions.

Levine's film cleverly blends dark comedy with tense drama - although it has to be said the way the first story unfolds probably overshadows the second.

The sexual tension between Plaza, Abbott and Gadon in the first story is unbearable and while it bubbles, you wait for events to take a particularly nasty turn.

That tension also exists in the second tale, although not quite at the same level of intensity.

Perhaps the fact there are more characters than the first tale means the audience is a bit more distracted and the sense of menace seems dialled down.

Nonetheless, Levine does an assured job as director and is helped by some handsome images from Robert Leitzell's camera.

However it is the cast who most impress, with Plaza, who is also a producer on the film, enjoying the chance to shine again in a central role.

Gadon and Abbott are good foils for her, while Lazaro stands out from the rest of the cast.

'Black Bear' is a movie that lingers in the memory long after you've seen it.

That's always a good sign.

But it also demands a repeat viewing, so you can properly absorb the dynamics at the heart of it and appreciate its guile.

And there is certainly enough in there to make a second viewing worth your while.

('Black Bear' was released in cinemas and on digital streaming platforms on March 5, 2021)