Review: Aubrey Plaza roars like never before in trippy 'Black Bear'
The actress anchors dreamlike drama that is among the year's best
Aubrey Plaza has never been better than she is in "Black Bear," a twisty, mind-melting drama that takes great pleasure in toying with its audience. The actress, best known for delivering searing side-eye glances that could burn a hole through the recipient's insides, delivers a revelatory tour de force performance that is unlike anything she's ever done on screen before. You'll look at her with new eyes.
Writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine creates a beguiling atmosphere using a shifting perspective and a fluid sense of reality. Just when you think you've got it nailed, he pulls the rug out from underneath you and the floor below along with it. Plaza is only the beginning of its abundant surprises.
She plays Allison, who we first meet as she silently looks out over the water from a dock in the Adirondacks. We learn she's an actress whose reputation for being difficult on set led to her pursuing work behind the camera, and she's at a retreat where she's sharing space with a couple, Gabe and Blair (Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon, both excellent), and seeking storytelling inspiration.
Allison finds herself in the center of a passive-aggressive marital spat between Gabe and Blair that grows increasingly hostile with each breath. Levine creates palpable tension between the three parties where every escalation feels like a declaration of war, and builds to an intense blow-off that sends shockwaves through the foundation of the narrative.
Levine then sets fire to his house and starts building anew, with the same characters now inhabiting different roles and realigned perspectives. "Black Bear" toys with viewers until the very end, all the while illustrating the seductive power of performance and well-crafted storytelling. Plaza is the standout, but everything about "Black Bear" leaves claw marks.
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'Black Bear'
GRADE: A-
Rated R: for language throughout, sexual content, drug use and some nudity
Running time: 105 minutes
On VOD