Pretentious and arty in ways both good and bad, presenting and deconstructing the pretty standard melodramas of indie film in a way that I’m unsure is clever or just rote. Even with the previous sentence said, I would still highly recommend a watch for Aubrey Plaza’s fearless performance. I, like many of you, I’m sure, have loved Aubrey since the beginning, her Scott Pilgrim & Parks and Rec days, but here she is allowed to stretch so far beyond those roles she’s played before that it is absolutely stunning to see. We always knew she had serious dramatic chops, as she’d shown them to us in bits and pieces here and there, but the whole of Black Bear hangs on her shoulders, and the melodrama of weak men is far less important (or interesting.)
