FILMS
Indie black comedy, Creation’s hectic track record, female music pioneers, Greek drama and literary legends
Just like funny: Ewen Bremner as Alan McGee in Creation Stories
BLACK BEAR If you’re a fan of Parks And Recreation, or saw her feature outing Ingrid Goes West, you’ll know Aubrey Plaza as one of the best things in contemporary American comedy – and the owner of the most unnerving eyes in the business, whether they’re suggesting murderous intent or withering snarkiness. Now Lawrence Michael Levine’s indie feature Black Bear takes Plaza way out of her usual comic terrain. She plays Allison, a woman planning to work on a script, who arrives at the lakeside retreat run by couple Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair (Sarah Gadon), a musician and a dancer who have seemingly given up on the city and their careers. From the outset, an air of sexual tension and possibly danger hovers over the trio, and before long, suspicions and accusations have kindled a confrontational bonfire of the egos…
Which is when a second chapter takes a drastic left turn. Then, what had previously been a controlled, sombre drama – albeit with hothouse tendencies – turns into a self-reflexive nightmare farce resembling a mash-up of Robert Altman, John Cassavetes and currently ascendant psychodrama queen Josephine Decker (Shirley). After the promising build-up, it feels all the more painfully self-indulgent, but Gadon and Plaza are both terrifically watchable and, yes, that stare acquires a whole creepy new dimension.