"Black Bear" and How to Externalize Drafting in Film (review)

[Please Note: If you are sensitive to spoilers, this review contains minor plot spoilers and full structural spoilers. But! I don’t think this will at all ruin your experience seeing the film. Part One is discussed in detail.]

Lawrence Michael Levine’s new film, Black Bear, is a visualization of the creative process. Starring Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon (Elisa from True Detective Season 3), and Christopher Abbott (Will from It Comes at Night), the film externalizes what it’s like to write rough drafts; twisting them further into a meta and emotional narrative. 

Allison, played by Aubrey Plaza, is introduced on a dock, looking out into a foggy lake. She’s searching for a way to execute the central plot she has in mind for her new film. Returning to a lake house, which is central to every part in the film, she sits at a table and begins to write, titling the top of the page: Part One: The Bear In The Road. Placing herself in the scene, she cuts to Allison arriving at the lake house’s long driveway, where Gabe is waiting to help with her bag. Gabe and Claire are a young couple and the lake house has been in Gabe’s family for a long time. Allison, in Part One, is an indie film writer and director, searching for a place to get away - to maybe start her new work (a writer writing about a writer who may be writing, the meta begins).

Upon arriving, Allison finds that Claire and Gabe are on rocky ground with each other. They’ve left their lives in the city to see if the lake house will help them become a better couple for their soon to be expected child. Allison sees there is tension and pretty quickly does everything she can to tighten the screw on their relationship. She’s purposefully obtuse, which causes the couple to disagree at almost every turn in the discussion, she leans in to the obvious attraction Gabe has for her, and things get more tense from there forward. 

Then, once Part One comes to a tragic, but perhaps too-sudden resolution, there is a black screen - Part Two: The Bear In The Boat House. The second draft begins.

If the film stopped at the end of Part One, which runs about 45 minutes, it would be fine. Not great, pretty good. Fine. The acting is great, the writing is solid, but the plot is a little easy and you see the end coming from a ways away. This is the first draft any writer will be familiar with. You have some things to say, you know roughly where they land in the plot arcs, and then you execute a kind of almost there not so good but serviceable finish. 

Then you start over. The process begins again and here is where the film rewards you for paying attention. Elements return, they’re blown out into the meta narrative of the film and then woven carefully into the non-meta narrative. Characters have shuffled roles (retaining their names), personalities are slightly mixed, but still familiar. Draft Two learned a lot from the tension and plot of draft one. The screw turns tighter in and we start over.

Aside from being the exact kind of heady, personal drama I crave in films these days, Black Bear is exceedingly dependent on its characters and the actors who play them. Aubrey Plaza, from Parks and Recreation to Ingrid Goes West, has become a powerhouse of an actor. It’s been so enjoyable to see TV actors, who may have been easily type-cast into nearly identical roles, break out into such devastatingly talented performances (Allison Brie in Horse Girl, Kristen Stewart in Personal Shopper, Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me, to name a few). In an interview for Interview Magazine, Plaza said they shot this film chronologically, which, after you’ve seen the film, should make you very concerned. She talks briefly about the emotional state of the character and how it breaks you down as a person for a while, which comes through in the film’s second part and was probably a careful, and wise, choice by the writer/director. Her performance is strong, confident, and unhinged. Deeply felt, deeply personal. It certainly didn’t hurt that her co-stars were also wildly talented and believable characters. As a couple fighting, and then as two people in a different situation entirely, the awkward, long-lasting tension of being in a strained relationship was expertly shown by Sarah Gadon and Christopher Abbott. Other supporting actors, who I won’t spoil, also play an important part in building and releasing tensions in the second part. Without them, I fear this film would have been too intense. They brought support and balance to the background and made space for the heavy scenes to fall into. Great casting all around.

When the film comes crashing to an end, Part One is gone (integrated), Part Two is finished. The black screen returns. Then we’re back at the lake with Allison. Looking out into the fog. She returns to the chair and the notebook to write. Starting again. 

As a device to show the process of creativity, this film really hits home. It can easily externalize the drafting and then the turning of a plot in an author’s head. Some beats repeat, almost identical. Certainly themes repeat. Metaphorical objects come from Part One and then go into Part Two. It’s all about working it out. But on top of that, it’s a damn good film. If you are looking for a film closer to Adaptation than Synecdoche, New York, I highly recommend Black Bear.

Black Bear is available now for purchase or rental on VOD.