Black Bear

[Ezee E]

WIKI

[Ezee E]

This is probably something that you go into without reading spoilers, so with that in mind:

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Perhaps she's in purgatory or some type of hell?

There's a solid section in this movie that works better when it's self-contained. The drama behind the making of a movie was entertaining in itself with conflict, recurring comedic bits.

It does get bogged down into trying to be something bigger than that, but kudos to Aubrey.

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[Peng]

I differ from more than a few critics I follow in that, for this film's bifurcated structure, I much prefer the latter half. I can see the Cassavetes/Virginia Woolf-tinged appeal of the first, but its overall shape feels so familiar that even with the three committed actors providing some prime tense, hostile friction against each other, it has me a bit restless. It does provide both subversion and some thematic undercurrent to the second half though, in which its looser, screwball energy and an arresting milieu are much more my speed, plus a great, great Aubrey Plaza turn. Not sure if it adds up to much apart from signifiers of art and life clashing (although the ending seems to provide a retroactive answer of the film's structure being a catharsis/revenge through art), but seeing Plaza feign at her usual character type before ignite a volcanic bomb under it is rewarding enough. 7.5/10