Exclusive: Fresh off starring in Toronto Film Festival drama North Of Normal, Sarah Gadon is set to make her directorial debut on feature Lullabies For Little Criminals, based on Heather O’Neill’s 2007 novel which won the Canada Reads competition.
Alias Grace and True Detective star Gadon will adapt the screenplay and also produce alongside Brightlight Pictures’ (Firefly Lane) Shawn Williamson and Emily Alden. Production is slated to take place in Montreal.
The movie will follow thirteen year-old Baby who vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation. Her father, Jules, takes better care of his drug habit than he does of his daughter, however when her blossoming beauty captures the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local it creates a volatile situation which threatens to crush Baby’s spirit.
Gadon’s latest feature is Carly Stone drama North of Normal which launched on Sunday at TIFF. The Canadian actress stars with Robert Carlyle,...
Alias Grace and True Detective star Gadon will adapt the screenplay and also produce alongside Brightlight Pictures’ (Firefly Lane) Shawn Williamson and Emily Alden. Production is slated to take place in Montreal.
The movie will follow thirteen year-old Baby who vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation. Her father, Jules, takes better care of his drug habit than he does of his daughter, however when her blossoming beauty captures the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local it creates a volatile situation which threatens to crush Baby’s spirit.
Gadon’s latest feature is Carly Stone drama North of Normal which launched on Sunday at TIFF. The Canadian actress stars with Robert Carlyle,...
- 9/12/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Ailey (Jamila Wignot)
Has any choreographer mattered more to American dance than Alvin Ailey? The documentary Ailey, directed by Jamila Wignot, makes a good case that there has not. Comprised of amazing archival footage, peer interviews, and choreographer Rennie Harris prepping a modern-day performance in honor of the artist, Wignot paints a full picture of a complicated man. Born in the middle of Texas during The Great Depression, old recordings of Ailey recount his picking cotton with his mother (his father was non-existent in his life), then later on seeing Katherine Dunham (and her male backup dancers) perform live. The shock of watching somebody that looked like him produce such wonderful art emboldened him to pursue the work himself. – Dan M. (full...
Ailey (Jamila Wignot)
Has any choreographer mattered more to American dance than Alvin Ailey? The documentary Ailey, directed by Jamila Wignot, makes a good case that there has not. Comprised of amazing archival footage, peer interviews, and choreographer Rennie Harris prepping a modern-day performance in honor of the artist, Wignot paints a full picture of a complicated man. Born in the middle of Texas during The Great Depression, old recordings of Ailey recount his picking cotton with his mother (his father was non-existent in his life), then later on seeing Katherine Dunham (and her male backup dancers) perform live. The shock of watching somebody that looked like him produce such wonderful art emboldened him to pursue the work himself. – Dan M. (full...
- 1/14/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: HBO Max Films has snapped up the spec script Black Choke written by Doug Simon with Lawrence Michael Levine set to direct.
The script is billed as a neo-noir about a bank robbery gone wrong.
Tracey Nyberg, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman of Aggregate Films are attached to produce.
Simon is currently writing Frost & Fire based on the Ray Bradbury short story of the same name, for Thunder Road Pictures. His original spec script Breathe is also set up at Thunder Road, and has Stefon Bristol (See You Yesterday) attached to direct, and was featured on the 2019 Black List.
Levine directed and wrote the Aubrey Plaza drama Black Bear which made its world premiere at Sundance 2020 and notched an 89% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. He also directed, wrote and starred in the 2014 feature Wild Canaries which made its world premiere at SXSW.
Simon is repped by Verve, Writ Large...
The script is billed as a neo-noir about a bank robbery gone wrong.
Tracey Nyberg, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman of Aggregate Films are attached to produce.
Simon is currently writing Frost & Fire based on the Ray Bradbury short story of the same name, for Thunder Road Pictures. His original spec script Breathe is also set up at Thunder Road, and has Stefon Bristol (See You Yesterday) attached to direct, and was featured on the 2019 Black List.
Levine directed and wrote the Aubrey Plaza drama Black Bear which made its world premiere at Sundance 2020 and notched an 89% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. He also directed, wrote and starred in the 2014 feature Wild Canaries which made its world premiere at SXSW.
Simon is repped by Verve, Writ Large...
- 7/23/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Social tensions spiral towards disaster before a cryptic rug-pull in this strange comedy gem
Generally speaking, it’s a bit dismaying to find out that a movie is a movie within a movie, or that it’s somehow about itself, or a commentary on itself. The rug-pull isn’t enjoyable when the rug never felt very interesting or secure in the first place. But the meta gets better in Lawrence Michael Levine’s dizzying but gripping comedy Black Bear, which is a recurring nightmare – or rather, an entertainment in two acts about the messy business of making a personal film based on actual events. Is the movie being shot in the second act inspired by the events in the first? Or is the first act a film inspired by what happened in the second?
Related: Christopher Abbott on life after Girls: ‘There’s something romantic about making movies’
Continue reading.
Generally speaking, it’s a bit dismaying to find out that a movie is a movie within a movie, or that it’s somehow about itself, or a commentary on itself. The rug-pull isn’t enjoyable when the rug never felt very interesting or secure in the first place. But the meta gets better in Lawrence Michael Levine’s dizzying but gripping comedy Black Bear, which is a recurring nightmare – or rather, an entertainment in two acts about the messy business of making a personal film based on actual events. Is the movie being shot in the second act inspired by the events in the first? Or is the first act a film inspired by what happened in the second?
Related: Christopher Abbott on life after Girls: ‘There’s something romantic about making movies’
Continue reading.
- 4/22/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Easily one of the most anticipated film’s of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival is Black Bear, in what will be its UK premiere. We had the pleasure to catch up with its director and writer, Lawrence Michael Levine.
The buzz around the film has been building since its screening at Sundance last year with plaudits of well-deserved praise.
It is a dark comedy where we see filmmaker Alison (Aubrey Plaza) escape to a secluded lake house in a serene setting where she is hosted by couple Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair (Sarah Gadon).
Expect the unexpected in a story where the lines of reality are unclear as it highlights the struggles of the creative process and darker more disturbing themes.
You can watch the full interview below:
Black Bear – released on digital 23rd April
The post Lawrence Michael Levine on his remarkable film, Black Bear, with Aubrey Plaza appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The buzz around the film has been building since its screening at Sundance last year with plaudits of well-deserved praise.
It is a dark comedy where we see filmmaker Alison (Aubrey Plaza) escape to a secluded lake house in a serene setting where she is hosted by couple Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair (Sarah Gadon).
Expect the unexpected in a story where the lines of reality are unclear as it highlights the struggles of the creative process and darker more disturbing themes.
You can watch the full interview below:
Black Bear – released on digital 23rd April
The post Lawrence Michael Levine on his remarkable film, Black Bear, with Aubrey Plaza appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 4/22/2021
- by Thomas Alexander
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The actor best known for his role in Lena Dunham’s series talks about his experimental new film Black Bear, lockdown comfort-viewing – and why his heart truly lies in theatre
“Gabe?” asks Christopher Abbott, and for a moment across the screen he looks befuddled. Then the penny drops: “Gabe, the name of the character?” He laughs. “I was like: ‘Who’s Gabe!’ I should know! It’s been a while …”
It has, indeed, been a while since Abbott shot Black Bear, the “meta comedy thriller” directed by Lawrence Michael Levine and set in the Adirondack mountains, and more than a year has passed since it premiered at Sundance. Anyway, such are Black Bear’s layers and twists that anyone – even its actors – could be forgiven for forgetting who was who and where and why.
“Gabe?” asks Christopher Abbott, and for a moment across the screen he looks befuddled. Then the penny drops: “Gabe, the name of the character?” He laughs. “I was like: ‘Who’s Gabe!’ I should know! It’s been a while …”
It has, indeed, been a while since Abbott shot Black Bear, the “meta comedy thriller” directed by Lawrence Michael Levine and set in the Adirondack mountains, and more than a year has passed since it premiered at Sundance. Anyway, such are Black Bear’s layers and twists that anyone – even its actors – could be forgiven for forgetting who was who and where and why.
- 4/15/2021
- by Laura Barton
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: Escalating a relationship at Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, Carla Hacken has signed her Paper Pictures banner to a two-year first look producing deal. Among the films that Hacken will produce at Blumhouse is Coming Around Again, a romantic drama that Sophia Takal will direct from a script by Lawrence Michael Levine. The film is casting up, and focuses on a middle aged divorcee who rekindles a relationship with an old flame while vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard. Coming Around Again will be Takal’s third film for Blumhouse, for whom she last directed Black Christmas.
Hacken’s Paper Pictures will develop film and TV projects, and she is also consulting to help Jason Blum’s company as is expands into streaming films. The deal will run for two years.
“Carla has exemplary taste and deep relationships,” said Blumhouse founder/CEO Blum. “Her calling card for adapting some of the...
Hacken’s Paper Pictures will develop film and TV projects, and she is also consulting to help Jason Blum’s company as is expands into streaming films. The deal will run for two years.
“Carla has exemplary taste and deep relationships,” said Blumhouse founder/CEO Blum. “Her calling card for adapting some of the...
- 3/8/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Vertigo Releasing has debuted a new trailer for the Aubrey Plaza thriller ‘Black Bear’ before screening at the Glasgow Film Festival from 27th February.
At a remote lake house, a filmmaker plays a calculated game of desire and jealousy in the pursuit of a work of art that blurs the boundaries between autobiography and invention.
Directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, the film stars Aubrey Plaza Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon.
Also in trailers – Lots of one-armed bandits in the Army of the Dead trailer
The film will be released on UK and Irish digital platforms on 23rd April.
The post Aubrey Plaza stars in trailer for ‘Black Bear’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
At a remote lake house, a filmmaker plays a calculated game of desire and jealousy in the pursuit of a work of art that blurs the boundaries between autobiography and invention.
Directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, the film stars Aubrey Plaza Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon.
Also in trailers – Lots of one-armed bandits in the Army of the Dead trailer
The film will be released on UK and Irish digital platforms on 23rd April.
The post Aubrey Plaza stars in trailer for ‘Black Bear’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 2/26/2021
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Exclusive: Veteran indie executive and filmmaker Jeff Lipsky is hooking up with Kino Lorber to launch The Jeff Lipsky Collection on growing streaming service Kino Now. The collection, which becomes available on March 5, will include five out of seven of Lipsky’s directing efforts dating from 2006-2019. Other filmmakers who are similarly represented with Kino Now Auteur Collections include Jean-Luc Godard, Lina Wertmüller, Derek Jarman, István Szabó and F.W. Murnau.
On the Lipsky roster are Flannel Pajamas (2006), a relationship story co-starring Julianne Nicholson and Justin Kirk; family drama Twelve Thirty (2011), starring Jonathan Groff; surreal comedy Molly’s Theory Of Relativity (2013) with Sophia Takal and Lawrence Michael Levine; character study Mad Women (2015), co-starring Reed Birney and Jamie Harrold; and Holocaust-themed family drama The Last (2019), starring Rebecca Schull. Lipsky hopes to add his first film, 1997’s The End, to the collection as soon as its restoration is complete.
Says Lipsky, “Being inducted...
On the Lipsky roster are Flannel Pajamas (2006), a relationship story co-starring Julianne Nicholson and Justin Kirk; family drama Twelve Thirty (2011), starring Jonathan Groff; surreal comedy Molly’s Theory Of Relativity (2013) with Sophia Takal and Lawrence Michael Levine; character study Mad Women (2015), co-starring Reed Birney and Jamie Harrold; and Holocaust-themed family drama The Last (2019), starring Rebecca Schull. Lipsky hopes to add his first film, 1997’s The End, to the collection as soon as its restoration is complete.
Says Lipsky, “Being inducted...
- 2/15/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
UK festival recently moved online-only due to virus crisis.
The Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has revealed the programme for its 2021 edition (Feb 24-March 7), which includes several award-winning festival favourites and a focus on South Korea.
The 17th edition of Gff, which recently announced it would shift online-only due to the ongoing virus crisis, includes six world premieres, two European premieres and 49 UK premieres – around a third of the event’s usual programme of 180 titles.
However, Gff co-directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter said the reduced number of slots had forced them to raise the bar for selection and produce a stronger programme as a result.
The Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has revealed the programme for its 2021 edition (Feb 24-March 7), which includes several award-winning festival favourites and a focus on South Korea.
The 17th edition of Gff, which recently announced it would shift online-only due to the ongoing virus crisis, includes six world premieres, two European premieres and 49 UK premieres – around a third of the event’s usual programme of 180 titles.
However, Gff co-directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter said the reduced number of slots had forced them to raise the bar for selection and produce a stronger programme as a result.
- 1/14/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Writer/Director Lawrence Michael Levine is a filmmaker who spins strange yarns delivered through often uncomfortable conversations that are generally a combination of superb realism and the utterly implausible. In much the way several scenes in Wild Canaries and Always Shine play out, Black Bear is almost entirely a film of conversations in which people say […]
The post Black Bear Review – Elaborate Kantian Ethics Koan With Manipulative Artists? appeared first on Are You Screening?.
The post Black Bear Review – Elaborate Kantian Ethics Koan With Manipulative Artists? appeared first on Are You Screening?.
- 1/4/2021
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
Following our top 50 films of 2020 and more year-end coverage, we’re pleased to share personal top 10s of 2020 from our contributors.
Oh, where to begin? There’s usually so much to complain about. Yes, 2020 was rough. It was like if the second half of mother! was directed by three minions in a trench coat posing as McGruff the Crime Dog and then came to life. Even the film world was odd. Stuff got pushed to VOD. Studios delayed tent poles a year back in some cases. In what has to be the longest record since I was three years old, I haven’t been to a theater since March 12. I’m all but sure it’ll be more than a few months before it’s safe (or even possible) to see something again on the big screen, but getting this handful of movies is more than a nice consolation prize.
Oh, where to begin? There’s usually so much to complain about. Yes, 2020 was rough. It was like if the second half of mother! was directed by three minions in a trench coat posing as McGruff the Crime Dog and then came to life. Even the film world was odd. Stuff got pushed to VOD. Studios delayed tent poles a year back in some cases. In what has to be the longest record since I was three years old, I haven’t been to a theater since March 12. I’m all but sure it’ll be more than a few months before it’s safe (or even possible) to see something again on the big screen, but getting this handful of movies is more than a nice consolation prize.
- 12/31/2020
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
Twisted love triangle psychodrama debuted at Sundance.
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK and Ireland rights to psychodrama Black Bear, starring Aubrey Plaza, from Radiant Films International.
The distributor plans to release the film theatrically and on digital platforms on March 5, 2021.
Black Bear premiered at Sundance earlier this year and marks the latest from US writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine, whose credits include Wild Canaries and Gabi On The Roof In July.
The story centres on a twisted love triangle – played by Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon – that is created when an expectant couple receive a guest with writer’s block at their remote lake house.
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK and Ireland rights to psychodrama Black Bear, starring Aubrey Plaza, from Radiant Films International.
The distributor plans to release the film theatrically and on digital platforms on March 5, 2021.
Black Bear premiered at Sundance earlier this year and marks the latest from US writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine, whose credits include Wild Canaries and Gabi On The Roof In July.
The story centres on a twisted love triangle – played by Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon – that is created when an expectant couple receive a guest with writer’s block at their remote lake house.
- 12/9/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Husband and Wives and Bears, Oh My!: Levine’s Dark Dream an Ambiguous, Playful Psychodrama
The crux of our innate creative necessities might require something beyond the bare, at least as far as the leitmotif suggests in the fourth feature from Lawrence Michael Levine, the perspective changing psychodrama Black Bear. Dedicated to the director’s wife, actor/writer/director Sophia Takal, there’s an authentic, festering aftertaste to the film’s lofty, inconclusive artistic packaging which examines brittle, tenuous relationships floundering beneath the weight of collaborative undertakings.
A throwback to both the celebrated theatricality of morbid stage dramas (the bread and butter of Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee) and the abrasive arthouse marital escapades of early Polanski, Levine straddles the venomous sabotage of banal human instincts with the existential fumes of creative flow born from razed ennui.…...
The crux of our innate creative necessities might require something beyond the bare, at least as far as the leitmotif suggests in the fourth feature from Lawrence Michael Levine, the perspective changing psychodrama Black Bear. Dedicated to the director’s wife, actor/writer/director Sophia Takal, there’s an authentic, festering aftertaste to the film’s lofty, inconclusive artistic packaging which examines brittle, tenuous relationships floundering beneath the weight of collaborative undertakings.
A throwback to both the celebrated theatricality of morbid stage dramas (the bread and butter of Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee) and the abrasive arthouse marital escapades of early Polanski, Levine straddles the venomous sabotage of banal human instincts with the existential fumes of creative flow born from razed ennui.…...
- 12/8/2020
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
While she’s still perhaps best known for her comedic turn as the sardonic April on “Parks and Recreation,” Aubrey Plaza has been making a name for herself by nimbly crafting bizarre and offbeat characters. She arguably delivers her best performance to date in “Black Bear,” directed by Lawrence Michael Levine which sees the actress having to play multiple versions of the same character.
Continue reading Aubrey Plaza Talks The Extreme Acting Exercise Making ‘Black Bear’ & Why The Script “Terrified” Her [Interview] at The Playlist.
Continue reading Aubrey Plaza Talks The Extreme Acting Exercise Making ‘Black Bear’ & Why The Script “Terrified” Her [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 12/7/2020
- by Ally Johnson
- The Playlist
Premiering back at Sundance 2020, “Black Bear” might not have made waves equal in size to some (hello “Minari” and “Palm Springs”), but it certainly caused a stir among critics. Ours called the dark meta-dramedy about filmmaking, “madly hysterical and intoxicating.” While Aubrey Plaza leads the narrative in director Lawrence Michael Levine’s film about a would-be filmmaker looking for inspiration and scouting a scenic lakeside home for locations, Sarah Gadon and Christopher Abbott play the couple and homeowners who entertain her at their lake house in the Adirondack Mountains.
Continue reading ‘Black Bear’: Sarah Gadon & Christopher Abbott Talk Working With Aubrey Plaza, Balancing Tension, Filmmaking & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Black Bear’: Sarah Gadon & Christopher Abbott Talk Working With Aubrey Plaza, Balancing Tension, Filmmaking & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 12/6/2020
- by Ally Johnson
- The Playlist
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
76 Days
76 Days, from directors Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, and an anonymous filmmaker,is a heartbreaking work of documentary vérité investigating the emerging Covid-19 outbreak at a single hospital in Wuhan, China, and their response from early February to April 2020, when Wuhan lifted their initial lockdown. Eschewing contextualizing features, 76 Days places viewers alongside doctors and nurses as they struggle to control the spiraling implications of Covid-19, dealing with an influx of scared patients, a virus they do not fully understand, and diminishing resources. Though 76 Days proves a hard watch, it’s a profoundly visceral look into how one hospital dealt with the raging virus. – Christian G.
76 Days
76 Days, from directors Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, and an anonymous filmmaker,is a heartbreaking work of documentary vérité investigating the emerging Covid-19 outbreak at a single hospital in Wuhan, China, and their response from early February to April 2020, when Wuhan lifted their initial lockdown. Eschewing contextualizing features, 76 Days places viewers alongside doctors and nurses as they struggle to control the spiraling implications of Covid-19, dealing with an influx of scared patients, a virus they do not fully understand, and diminishing resources. Though 76 Days proves a hard watch, it’s a profoundly visceral look into how one hospital dealt with the raging virus. – Christian G.
- 12/4/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
When filmmaker Lawrence Michael Levine gave the script for “Black Bear” to Aubrey Plaza, it included one hell of a direction in its final act: the leading lady “breaks down and gives the best performance that anyone has ever seen ever.” No pressure.
“I had this moment before we started shooting, where I just felt like, ‘This is going to be really hard and fucked up,'” Plaza said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “But there was something in me that felt like I needed to dive off the deep end. If the movie had been about anything else, I don’t know if I would have been able to put myself through that. It was too much for me to pass up. I just had to do it.”
While she’s best known for charmingly sardonic roles like April Ludgate in NBC’s beloved series “Parks and Recreation...
“I had this moment before we started shooting, where I just felt like, ‘This is going to be really hard and fucked up,'” Plaza said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “But there was something in me that felt like I needed to dive off the deep end. If the movie had been about anything else, I don’t know if I would have been able to put myself through that. It was too much for me to pass up. I just had to do it.”
While she’s best known for charmingly sardonic roles like April Ludgate in NBC’s beloved series “Parks and Recreation...
- 12/3/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Gabe (Christopher Abbot) and Blair (Sarah Gabon) have decided to start letting out a room in their lakeside cabin, preferably to artistic types, given their own ambitions. First up is Allison (Aubrey Plaza), a film director who tells them she's working on a script. As they share an evening together, power shifts uneasily between the three, casual chat giving way to argument, Gabe's ability to say the wrong thing and alienate the guest gives way to an intense connection that convinces the unhappy Blair that something is going on between them. Is it? 40 minutes in, the whole premise of Lawrence Michael Levine's dramatic riddle shifts, throwing everything into doubt.
In Native American mythology, the bear is a bringer of order and justice but, not uncommonly, a target for tricksters. This is a deliberately tricksy film – so self-consciously so that many will find it alienating. Its second half repositions what.
In Native American mythology, the bear is a bringer of order and justice but, not uncommonly, a target for tricksters. This is a deliberately tricksy film – so self-consciously so that many will find it alienating. Its second half repositions what.
- 12/3/2020
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
From Parks And Recreation to Legion, from indie film queen to The Happiest Season, Aubrey Plaza is not done surprising us. Everybody’s favorite late-night talk-show guest and hilarious awards-show host rarely gets to show off the serious roots of her acting chops. Enter Black Bear. The Sundance hit from Lawrence Michael Levine stars Plaza as a former actress on a writing retreat opposite Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon. Further description is not only pointless, it can be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film. Let’s just say it’s worth your time, in large part because of the emotional territory Plaza […]
The post Back to One, Episode 134: Aubrey Plaza first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Back to One, Episode 134: Aubrey Plaza first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 12/1/2020
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
From Parks And Recreation to Legion, from indie film queen to The Happiest Season, Aubrey Plaza is not done surprising us. Everybody’s favorite late-night talk-show guest and hilarious awards-show host rarely gets to show off the serious roots of her acting chops. Enter Black Bear. The Sundance hit from Lawrence Michael Levine stars Plaza as a former actress on a writing retreat opposite Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon. Further description is not only pointless, it can be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film. Let’s just say it’s worth your time, in large part because of the emotional territory Plaza […]
The post Back to One, Episode 134: Aubrey Plaza first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Back to One, Episode 134: Aubrey Plaza first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 12/1/2020
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Moderated by Megan Lombardo, a professor in the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Film & Television department, this year’s Wonder Women: Producers panel was an all-Zoom affair. And taking to the computer screen were six diverse (albeit all white) women with a variety of career stories to tell. There was Jayme Lemons, whose Dawn Porter-directed doc The Way I See It had played the virtual fest earlier in the day, and who runs Jaywalker Pictures (with another wonder woman Laura Dern). Also Julie Christeas, founder and CEO of Tandem Pictures, who most recently produced Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear; […]
The post Wonder Women: Producers Zoom In at the 2020 Scad Savannah Film Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Wonder Women: Producers Zoom In at the 2020 Scad Savannah Film Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 11/3/2020
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Moderated by Megan Lombardo, a professor in the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Film & Television department, this year’s Wonder Women: Producers panel was an all-Zoom affair. And taking to the computer screen were six diverse (albeit all white) women with a variety of career stories to tell. There was Jayme Lemons, whose Dawn Porter-directed doc The Way I See It had played the virtual fest earlier in the day, and who runs Jaywalker Pictures (with another wonder woman Laura Dern). Also Julie Christeas, founder and CEO of Tandem Pictures, who most recently produced Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear; […]
The post Wonder Women: Producers Zoom In at the 2020 Scad Savannah Film Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Wonder Women: Producers Zoom In at the 2020 Scad Savannah Film Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 11/3/2020
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
"Black Bear" is the new restricted, comedic thriller, written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon, Paola Lázaro and Grantham Coleman, scheduled for release by Momentum Pictures December 4, 2020:
"...at a remote lake house in the Adirondack Mountains, a couple entertains an out-of-town guest looking for inspiration in her filmmaking. The group quickly falls into a calculated game of desire, manipulation and jealousy, unaware of how dangerously convoluted their lives will soon become in the filmmaker's pursuit of a work of art..."
Cast also includes Lindsay Burdge as 'Maude', Alexander Koch as 'Mike', Jennifer Kim as 'Nora', Shannon O'Neill as 'Simone' and Lou Gonzalez as 'Chris'.
Click the images to enlarge... ...
"...at a remote lake house in the Adirondack Mountains, a couple entertains an out-of-town guest looking for inspiration in her filmmaking. The group quickly falls into a calculated game of desire, manipulation and jealousy, unaware of how dangerously convoluted their lives will soon become in the filmmaker's pursuit of a work of art..."
Cast also includes Lindsay Burdge as 'Maude', Alexander Koch as 'Mike', Jennifer Kim as 'Nora', Shannon O'Neill as 'Simone' and Lou Gonzalez as 'Chris'.
Click the images to enlarge... ...
- 10/19/2020
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Don’t be alarmed if you find yourself wondering halfway through Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear just what the hell is going on. Levine intends for his characters to be off-kilter. At least, at first. Influenced by filmmakers like Hong Sang-soo, Levine’s sophomore feature is less about following a straight narrative and more about the longtime […]
The post ‘Black Bear’ Review: Aubrey Plaza is Stunning in This Nightmarish Domestic Thriller [Nightstream] appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Black Bear’ Review: Aubrey Plaza is Stunning in This Nightmarish Domestic Thriller [Nightstream] appeared first on /Film.
- 10/15/2020
- by Kalyn Corrigan
- Slash Film
Does a bear standing in the road influence a bear by the boathouse? Or are both animals a manifestation of the same mind to punctuate the climactic conclusions of an ever-escalating series of anxiety-inducing emotional carnage as deus ex machinas? You could easily argue each option where it concerns Lawrence Michael Levine’s intentionally solipsistic and presumably cathartic dramatic puzzle box of a film, Black Bear. Chapter One might be a reality that influences Chapter Two or both might be dueling incarnations of a creative mind attempting to distill her ideas and artistic voice into a viable vehicle for consumption. They infer upon each other, star characters with identical names despite extreme role reversals, and ultimately end up bolstering the fact that all art is a manipulation.
This is especially true for films considering the medium is itself an illusory copy of reality filtered through the mechanical lens of a...
This is especially true for films considering the medium is itself an illusory copy of reality filtered through the mechanical lens of a...
- 10/13/2020
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
October is horror movie season, but there’s no reason to watch “Hocus Pocus” for the umpteenth time when there are newer offerings available. This year, several of the major horror film festivals across the U.S. were forced to cancel their physical gatherings, but they’ve joined forces to create a single virtual festival event loaded with promising new work from around the world. Running October 8 – 11, Nightstream represents the collaborative programming efforts of Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, Overlook, the North Bend Film Festival, and Popcorn Frights Festival. The supersized curatorial undertaking has yielded an international lineup of genre efforts that include some favorites from earlier the festival season as well as many discoveries.
Launching as New York Film Festival’s virtual edition winds down, Nightstream is another example of ongoing efforts to replicate the festival experience in these stay-at-home times. The program opens Thursday with the world premiere of the Hulu Original production “Run,...
Launching as New York Film Festival’s virtual edition winds down, Nightstream is another example of ongoing efforts to replicate the festival experience in these stay-at-home times. The program opens Thursday with the world premiere of the Hulu Original production “Run,...
- 10/8/2020
- by Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Both regulars at Sundance Film Festival, Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott returned earlier this year with Black Bear, a new relationship dramedy set in a remote cabin that takes unexpected twists which look to upend the somewhat familair set-up. Written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, who impressed with his last feature Wild Canaries back in 2014, the film will now get a release this December and the first trailer has arrived.
Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com said in his review, the director “returns with another deconstruction of identity and art, and helms it himself this time in the excellent, darkly humorous Black Bear, starring Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon, and Aubrey Plaza. The film starts as a relatively straightforward (and yet still sharp) relationship dramedy with three strong personalities bouncing off each other at a remote lake house before becoming something even more challenging and thrilling. It’s a film that...
Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com said in his review, the director “returns with another deconstruction of identity and art, and helms it himself this time in the excellent, darkly humorous Black Bear, starring Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon, and Aubrey Plaza. The film starts as a relatively straightforward (and yet still sharp) relationship dramedy with three strong personalities bouncing off each other at a remote lake house before becoming something even more challenging and thrilling. It’s a film that...
- 10/7/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"You don't think she knows what I'm up to?" Momentum Pictures has debuted an official trailer for an indie dark comedy + psychological thriller titled Black Bear, the latest from film from the mind of filmmaker Lawrence Michael Levine. This premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and has also been playing on the international festival circuit since then. A filmmaker at a creative impasse seeks solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and surprising ways. Aubrey Plaza stars as the filmmaker, named Allison, pulling everyone "into a calculated game of desire, manipulation, and jealousy." Also with Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon, Alexander Koch, Paola Lázaro, Lindsay Burdge, and Jennifer Kim. This looks like a very intelligent, complex, even philosophical film that has much more going on within than it seems at first glance. Tricky stuff here.
- 10/6/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Since bringing her signature deadpan sizzle to turns in “Ingrid Goes West,” “The Little Hours,” and “Safety Not Guaranteed,” Aubrey Plaza has succeeded in becoming a one-woman mini-genre unto herself. Because of her discerning choices of roles, her name indicates something about the tone, quality, and artistic ambitions of the films to which she lends her talents. From the intriguing new trailer for “Black Bear,” which premiered in the forward-looking Next section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, it looks as if Plaza has done it yet again.
Describing the film as “an intriguing and unexpected comedic thriller,” the official synopsis goes on to explain: “At a remote lake house in the Adirondack Mountains, a couple entertains an out-of-town guest looking for inspiration in her filmmaking. The group quickly falls into a calculated game of desire, manipulation, and jealousy, unaware of how dangerously convoluted their lives will soon become...
Describing the film as “an intriguing and unexpected comedic thriller,” the official synopsis goes on to explain: “At a remote lake house in the Adirondack Mountains, a couple entertains an out-of-town guest looking for inspiration in her filmmaking. The group quickly falls into a calculated game of desire, manipulation, and jealousy, unaware of how dangerously convoluted their lives will soon become...
- 10/6/2020
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
The Philadelphia Film Festival has unveiled its 2020 film lineup for an Oct. 23 to Nov. 2 event set to stream movies and feature nightly drive-in screenings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 29th edition will feature screenings at the two-screen Philadelphia Film Society Drive-In at the Navy Yard for Chloe Zhao’s Venice and Toronto award winner Nomadland, which stars Frances McDormand; Frances Lee’s Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan; Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear, featuring Aubrey Plaza; director Tommy Oliver’s 40 Years a Prisoner; and MLK / FBI, Sam Pollard’s documentary about the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther ...
The 29th edition will feature screenings at the two-screen Philadelphia Film Society Drive-In at the Navy Yard for Chloe Zhao’s Venice and Toronto award winner Nomadland, which stars Frances McDormand; Frances Lee’s Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan; Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear, featuring Aubrey Plaza; director Tommy Oliver’s 40 Years a Prisoner; and MLK / FBI, Sam Pollard’s documentary about the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther ...
- 10/6/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The Philadelphia Film Festival has unveiled its 2020 film lineup for an Oct. 23 to Nov. 2 event set to stream movies and feature nightly drive-in screenings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 29th edition will feature screenings at the two-screen Philadelphia Film Society Drive-In at the Navy Yard for Chloe Zhao’s Venice and Toronto award winner Nomadland, which stars Frances McDormand; Frances Lee’s Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan; Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear, featuring Aubrey Plaza; director Tommy Oliver’s 40 Years a Prisoner; and MLK / FBI, Sam Pollard’s documentary about the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther ...
The 29th edition will feature screenings at the two-screen Philadelphia Film Society Drive-In at the Navy Yard for Chloe Zhao’s Venice and Toronto award winner Nomadland, which stars Frances McDormand; Frances Lee’s Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan; Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear, featuring Aubrey Plaza; director Tommy Oliver’s 40 Years a Prisoner; and MLK / FBI, Sam Pollard’s documentary about the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther ...
- 10/6/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Black Bear,” “Kokoloko,” “Night of the Kings,” “Rosa’s Wedding” and “Undine” have been selected as the competition titles for the Marimba Award at the upcoming Miami Film Festival Gems event.
The seventh annual edition of Gems will be held virtually from Oct. 8-11. The juried prize, which carries a $25,000 award, is given for a film that best exemplifies richness and resonance for cinema’s future.
“Black Bear is a U.S. film, directed by Lawrence Michael Levine and starring Aubrey Plaza, Sara Gadon and Christopher Abbot. It premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“Kokoloko” (Mexico), directed by Gerardo Naranjo, received a Best Actor prize for Noé Hernández at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.
“Night of the Kings” comes from Ivory Coast, France, Canada and Senegal. Directed by Philippe Lacôte, it is the Ivory Coast’s official submission in the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category
“Rosa’s Wedding” (Spain...
The seventh annual edition of Gems will be held virtually from Oct. 8-11. The juried prize, which carries a $25,000 award, is given for a film that best exemplifies richness and resonance for cinema’s future.
“Black Bear is a U.S. film, directed by Lawrence Michael Levine and starring Aubrey Plaza, Sara Gadon and Christopher Abbot. It premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“Kokoloko” (Mexico), directed by Gerardo Naranjo, received a Best Actor prize for Noé Hernández at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.
“Night of the Kings” comes from Ivory Coast, France, Canada and Senegal. Directed by Philippe Lacôte, it is the Ivory Coast’s official submission in the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category
“Rosa’s Wedding” (Spain...
- 9/23/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Steven Oliver in ‘Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky’.
Local films from directors Jo-Anne Brechin and Steven McGregor are among the 12 world premieres to feature on the line-up for Miff 68½ – Melbourne International Film Festival’s upcoming digital-only iteration.
To run August 6-23, the event will encompass some 69 features and 44 shorts from 56 countries – an impressive number given the rights complications inherent in putting together an online showcase. Forty-nine per cent of films are from a female director, and all films are available to stream across Australia.
Miff artistic director Al Cossar said: “I’m delighted to say that, despite the extraordinary circumstances of 2020, Miff’s ‘radical act’ is to keep going and continue on our mission to bring you the world through unforgettable screen experiences. At Miff, we are driven by a deep understanding that film has the ability to entertain, inspire, illuminate and empower audiences in a way that few other...
Local films from directors Jo-Anne Brechin and Steven McGregor are among the 12 world premieres to feature on the line-up for Miff 68½ – Melbourne International Film Festival’s upcoming digital-only iteration.
To run August 6-23, the event will encompass some 69 features and 44 shorts from 56 countries – an impressive number given the rights complications inherent in putting together an online showcase. Forty-nine per cent of films are from a female director, and all films are available to stream across Australia.
Miff artistic director Al Cossar said: “I’m delighted to say that, despite the extraordinary circumstances of 2020, Miff’s ‘radical act’ is to keep going and continue on our mission to bring you the world through unforgettable screen experiences. At Miff, we are driven by a deep understanding that film has the ability to entertain, inspire, illuminate and empower audiences in a way that few other...
- 7/15/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
‘First Cow’ to open festival, which will run as a virtual event due to the virus crisis.
Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow is to open this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, which has moved online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The virtual festival, titled Miff 68 ½, will run from August 6-23 and marks the first time Australia’s biggest film festival will not take place since its launch in 1952.
The selection comprises 74 features and 44 shorts from 56 countries. Some 49% of the titles include at least one female director. The screenings will be geo-blocked for Australia, marking the first time Melbourne titles can be viewed nationwide,...
Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow is to open this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, which has moved online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The virtual festival, titled Miff 68 ½, will run from August 6-23 and marks the first time Australia’s biggest film festival will not take place since its launch in 1952.
The selection comprises 74 features and 44 shorts from 56 countries. Some 49% of the titles include at least one female director. The screenings will be geo-blocked for Australia, marking the first time Melbourne titles can be viewed nationwide,...
- 7/14/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” is set as the opening movie of the Melbourne International Film Festival. The event was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, before being revived online under the label Miff 68 ½. The festival will unspool virtually Aug 6-23, 2020.
“First Cow” is an unlikely story of friendship and free enterprise on the American frontier, involving a skilled cook, a Chinese immigrant and a wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow. It previously played at the Telluride, New York and Berlin festivals.
In total, the festival will present 60 feature films, including 3 in a retrospective section, and 44 shorts. They hail from 56 countries and territories and 49% include at least one female director. All film screenings are geo-blocked to play only within Australia, but are available nationwide.
“Despite the extraordinary circumstances of 2020, Miff’s ‘radical act’ is to keep going and continue on our mission to bring (to audiences) the world through unforgettable screen experiences,...
“First Cow” is an unlikely story of friendship and free enterprise on the American frontier, involving a skilled cook, a Chinese immigrant and a wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow. It previously played at the Telluride, New York and Berlin festivals.
In total, the festival will present 60 feature films, including 3 in a retrospective section, and 44 shorts. They hail from 56 countries and territories and 49% include at least one female director. All film screenings are geo-blocked to play only within Australia, but are available nationwide.
“Despite the extraordinary circumstances of 2020, Miff’s ‘radical act’ is to keep going and continue on our mission to bring (to audiences) the world through unforgettable screen experiences,...
- 7/14/2020
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Momentum Pictures has picked up the U.S. distribution rights the Aubrey Plaza-Christopher Abbott-Sarah Gadon starring film, Black Bear, the suspenseful meta-drama written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine. The pic, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance, follows an expecting couple confronted with an out of town guest. Suffering from writer’s block, the guest seeks solace in the woods but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
The release date will be announced at a later date.
During his visit to Deadline’s Sundance studio back in January, Levin talked about the impetus of the film. “I wanted to do something more unusual and spontaneous,” Levin told Deadline, sharing that he was inspired by his artist sister’s spontaneous approach when it pertains to her creative process.
Black Bear was produced by Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein, Richard J Bosner...
The release date will be announced at a later date.
During his visit to Deadline’s Sundance studio back in January, Levin talked about the impetus of the film. “I wanted to do something more unusual and spontaneous,” Levin told Deadline, sharing that he was inspired by his artist sister’s spontaneous approach when it pertains to her creative process.
Black Bear was produced by Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein, Richard J Bosner...
- 5/5/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Momentum Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to the drama “Black Bear,” starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon.
Written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, “Black Bear” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Momentum Pictures will announce release plans at a later date.
Set at a remote house in the Adirondack Mountains, Abbott and Gadon portray an expecting couple confronted with Plaza’s out-of-town guest, who is suffering from writer’s block. She seeks solace in the woods, but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
CAA Media Finance negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers. “Black Bear” is produced by Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein, Blue Creek Pictures’ Richard J. Bosner, Levine, Sophia Takal, Oakhurst’s Marina Grasic and Jai Khanna, and Plaza.
“‘Black Bear’ is such a singular piece of filmmaking. From the first frame we were...
Written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, “Black Bear” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Momentum Pictures will announce release plans at a later date.
Set at a remote house in the Adirondack Mountains, Abbott and Gadon portray an expecting couple confronted with Plaza’s out-of-town guest, who is suffering from writer’s block. She seeks solace in the woods, but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
CAA Media Finance negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers. “Black Bear” is produced by Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein, Blue Creek Pictures’ Richard J. Bosner, Levine, Sophia Takal, Oakhurst’s Marina Grasic and Jai Khanna, and Plaza.
“‘Black Bear’ is such a singular piece of filmmaking. From the first frame we were...
- 5/5/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Tandem Pictures, Blue Creek Pictures, Oakhurst produced.
Sundance selection Black Bear will open in the Us via Momentum Pictures following a deal on the psychodrama starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon.
The story centres on a twisted love triangle that ensues when an expectant couple receive a guest with writer’s block at their woodland home.
Momentum Pictures struck the deal with CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers and will announce release at a later date.
Black Bear is the latest from director Lawrence Michael Levine, whose credits include Wild Canaries and Gabi On The Roof In July.
Sundance selection Black Bear will open in the Us via Momentum Pictures following a deal on the psychodrama starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon.
The story centres on a twisted love triangle that ensues when an expectant couple receive a guest with writer’s block at their woodland home.
Momentum Pictures struck the deal with CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers and will announce release at a later date.
Black Bear is the latest from director Lawrence Michael Levine, whose credits include Wild Canaries and Gabi On The Roof In July.
- 5/5/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Domestic rights for the buzzy Sundance title “Black Bear” starring Aubrey Plaza has been acquired by Momentum Pictures, the company announced on Tuesday.
Written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, the film premiered at Sundance 2020 to critical acclaim in the Next section. Along with Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon star in the suspenseful meta-drama about an expecting couple confronted with an out-of-town guest. Suffering from writer’s block, the guest seeks solace in the woods but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
“‘Black Bear’ is such a singular piece of filmmaking. From the first frame we were enthralled by Lawrence’s inventive storytelling,” Dylan Wilcox, Svp of acquisitions for Momentum Pictures, said in a statement to TheWrap. “The trio of lead actors all give incredible performances, and we’re excited to share it with audiences across the country.”
Also Read: 'Black Bear' Writer,...
Written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, the film premiered at Sundance 2020 to critical acclaim in the Next section. Along with Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon star in the suspenseful meta-drama about an expecting couple confronted with an out-of-town guest. Suffering from writer’s block, the guest seeks solace in the woods but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
“‘Black Bear’ is such a singular piece of filmmaking. From the first frame we were enthralled by Lawrence’s inventive storytelling,” Dylan Wilcox, Svp of acquisitions for Momentum Pictures, said in a statement to TheWrap. “The trio of lead actors all give incredible performances, and we’re excited to share it with audiences across the country.”
Also Read: 'Black Bear' Writer,...
- 5/5/2020
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Momentum Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to the suspense thriller Black Bear, starring Aubrey Plaza.
The feature, which premiered at Sundance, follows an expectant couple confronted with an out-of-town guest. Suffering from writer's block, the guest seeks solace in the woods but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon also star in the movie from writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine.
Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein produced Black Bear, along with Richard J. Bosner of Blue Creek Pictures. Levine and Plaza also produced, along with Sophia Takal and Oakhurst’s ...
The feature, which premiered at Sundance, follows an expectant couple confronted with an out-of-town guest. Suffering from writer's block, the guest seeks solace in the woods but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon also star in the movie from writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine.
Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein produced Black Bear, along with Richard J. Bosner of Blue Creek Pictures. Levine and Plaza also produced, along with Sophia Takal and Oakhurst’s ...
Momentum Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to the suspense thriller Black Bear, starring Aubrey Plaza.
The feature, which premiered at Sundance, follows an expectant couple confronted with an out-of-town guest. Suffering from writer's block, the guest seeks solace in the woods but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon also star in the movie from writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine.
Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein produced Black Bear, along with Richard J. Bosner of Blue Creek Pictures. Levine and Plaza also produced, along with Sophia Takal and Oakhurst’s ...
The feature, which premiered at Sundance, follows an expectant couple confronted with an out-of-town guest. Suffering from writer's block, the guest seeks solace in the woods but instead finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle.
Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon also star in the movie from writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine.
Tandem Pictures’ Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein produced Black Bear, along with Richard J. Bosner of Blue Creek Pictures. Levine and Plaza also produced, along with Sophia Takal and Oakhurst’s ...
“Black Bear” writer and director Lawrence Michael Levine says he “experimented with a new technique” while writing his drama starring Aubrey Plaza and Sarah Gadon — which resulted in it going absolutely bats— insane in the second half.
“I experimented with a new technique of writing which was, instead of outlining the whole movie and mapping it out very specifically, I meditated and let images come to me and I put those images on cards,” Levine told TheWrap’s Steve Pond at Sundance. “It was a less conscious and more spontaneous writing process. All those twists and things kind of surprised me while I was writing it.”
Levine said that he wondered the entire time he was writing it about whether he could get away with the crazy story or not.
Also Read: Netflix Acquires Radha Blank's 'The 40-Year-Old Version'
“I was scared about it working or not, but I...
“I experimented with a new technique of writing which was, instead of outlining the whole movie and mapping it out very specifically, I meditated and let images come to me and I put those images on cards,” Levine told TheWrap’s Steve Pond at Sundance. “It was a less conscious and more spontaneous writing process. All those twists and things kind of surprised me while I was writing it.”
Levine said that he wondered the entire time he was writing it about whether he could get away with the crazy story or not.
Also Read: Netflix Acquires Radha Blank's 'The 40-Year-Old Version'
“I was scared about it working or not, but I...
- 2/5/2020
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
This year’s Sundance market was filled with questions, but buyers didn’t waste any time. (Browse the full list of acquisitions here.) By the end of the first weekend, it already featured the biggest sale in the festival’s history as well as the biggest documentary sale. Countless other buzzy projects landed homes at companies ranging from Searchlight (“The Night House”) to Sony Pictures Classics and Magnolia.
Nevertheless, with a lineup this vast, even the most aggressive distributors can only move so fast — and many of this year’s gems remain homeless. Here are the ones we think deserve to sell Asap.
“Black Bear”
Lawrence Michael Levine’s razor-sharp comedy “Black Bear” is a big step forward for the indie stalwart: a clever, twisted black comedy that skewers both contemporary culture and the film industry in two distinctly different (but related) parts. Fans of Levine’s wife Sophia Takal...
Nevertheless, with a lineup this vast, even the most aggressive distributors can only move so fast — and many of this year’s gems remain homeless. Here are the ones we think deserve to sell Asap.
“Black Bear”
Lawrence Michael Levine’s razor-sharp comedy “Black Bear” is a big step forward for the indie stalwart: a clever, twisted black comedy that skewers both contemporary culture and the film industry in two distinctly different (but related) parts. Fans of Levine’s wife Sophia Takal...
- 2/2/2020
- by Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Chris O'Falt and Dana Harris-Bridson
- Indiewire
This year’s Sundance Film Festival broke a number of records, from diversity in its programming to sales, but none of these statistics address the fundamental question behind all the noise: Were the movies any good? As it turns out, the festival more than delivered: Culled from 15,000 submissions, the 2020 edition offered up a range of timely, boundary-pushing documentary storytelling, promising new voices, and satisfying new heights from established filmmakers. Here are the best of the best.
“Boys State”
Co-directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s revealing documentary has the potential to be this year’s “American Factory,” in the sense that the filmmakers gained incredible access to capture an intimate story in real time — one that provides the perfect metaphor for this moment in our socio-political history. Boys State is a yearly event put on by the American Legion, where 17-year-olds are split into two political parties and put through...
“Boys State”
Co-directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s revealing documentary has the potential to be this year’s “American Factory,” in the sense that the filmmakers gained incredible access to capture an intimate story in real time — one that provides the perfect metaphor for this moment in our socio-political history. Boys State is a yearly event put on by the American Legion, where 17-year-olds are split into two political parties and put through...
- 2/1/2020
- by Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Chris O'Falt and Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine deviously screws with our heads in Black Bear while at the same time messing with those of his principal characters, a trio played with a succession of intriguing shifts by Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon, all in fine form. A slippery psychological drama that starts out talky and perhaps intentionally distancing but becomes retroactively gripping once its big switch is revealed, this is a darkly playful deconstruction of the indie filmmaking process that digs into the artist-muse dynamic and the power structures in relationships, constantly teasing the viewer as to what's real and what'...
- 1/27/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine deviously screws with our heads in Black Bear while at the same time messing with those of his principal characters, a trio played with a succession of intriguing shifts by Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon, all in fine form. A slippery psychological drama that starts out talky and perhaps intentionally distancing but becomes retroactively gripping once its big switch is revealed, this is a darkly playful deconstruction of the indie filmmaking process that digs into the artist-muse dynamic and the power structures in relationships, constantly teasing the viewer as to what's real and what'...
- 1/27/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Actor-writer Lawrence Michael Levine’s first two directorial features, “Gabi on the Roof in July” and “Wild Canaries,” were idiosyncratic indie hipster comedies of a familiar stripe. His third, “Black Bear,” is a much trickier proposition, a kind of narrative puzzle box in which one might be hard-pressed to find a solution, or even determine there is one. Rebooting midway to completely reframe its prior storytelling in very meta film-within-a-film-about-making-a-film terms, this adventurous seriocomedy has enough surprising elements and off-kilter humor to keep one intrigued, even if the payoff is debatable. Cast names will give it viability as a streaming item, but commercial prospects are not stellar.
The comedy of awkwardness, as ill-matched strangers stubbornly fail to click as friends, dominates the early going here to dryly amusing effect. Allison (Aubrey Plaza) is an actress turned writer-director of “small, unpopular films” whose latest creative drought lands her on the doorstep...
The comedy of awkwardness, as ill-matched strangers stubbornly fail to click as friends, dominates the early going here to dryly amusing effect. Allison (Aubrey Plaza) is an actress turned writer-director of “small, unpopular films” whose latest creative drought lands her on the doorstep...
- 1/27/2020
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
There is indeed an actual, living, occasionally roaring black bear that appears in Lawrence Michael Levine’s razor-sharp “Black Bear,” but that’s one of the few hard-and-fast elements of That the film — the first of Levine’s to premiere at Sundance — is programmed in the festival’s forward-thinking Next section should suggest to audiences that the film is more than the psychosexual drama hinted at in its official description. Well, it is, but it’s also so much more.
The basics: set in the kind of glamorous mountain mansion that never seems like anyone’s actual home, we’re first introduced to flinty filmmaker Allison (Aubrey Plaza), who is visiting the makeshift artist retreat on the recommendation of a pal. It’s run by — and owned by and lived in — flirty Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and his pregnant partner Blair (Sarah Gadon), who are amusingly ill suited for any kind of professional endeavor.
The basics: set in the kind of glamorous mountain mansion that never seems like anyone’s actual home, we’re first introduced to flinty filmmaker Allison (Aubrey Plaza), who is visiting the makeshift artist retreat on the recommendation of a pal. It’s run by — and owned by and lived in — flirty Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and his pregnant partner Blair (Sarah Gadon), who are amusingly ill suited for any kind of professional endeavor.
- 1/25/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Aubrey Plaza gives a go-for-broke performance in “Black Bear,” a galvanizing and serpentine drama about a weekend getaway that goes dangerously off the rails.
The film premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday and Plaza’s work is a million miles removed from April Ludgate, the deadpan and apathetic intern from “Parks and Recreation” that served as the actress’ breakout role. Here, Plaza plays both sides of the coin, in the story of a couple who get obsessed with their overnight guest. Without revealing “Black Bear’s” killer twist, in one part of the film, Plaza is both seductive and poised, while in another section she is unbalanced and wracked with anxiety. It was, she admits, the greatest acting challenge of her career, one that was tailor made for her by writer and director Lawrence Michael Levine.
On the eve of “Black Bear’s” Sundance debut, Plaza spoke with...
The film premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday and Plaza’s work is a million miles removed from April Ludgate, the deadpan and apathetic intern from “Parks and Recreation” that served as the actress’ breakout role. Here, Plaza plays both sides of the coin, in the story of a couple who get obsessed with their overnight guest. Without revealing “Black Bear’s” killer twist, in one part of the film, Plaza is both seductive and poised, while in another section she is unbalanced and wracked with anxiety. It was, she admits, the greatest acting challenge of her career, one that was tailor made for her by writer and director Lawrence Michael Levine.
On the eve of “Black Bear’s” Sundance debut, Plaza spoke with...
- 1/24/2020
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
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