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★★★★★
15 December 2016
A movie review of TWO LOVERS AND A BEAR. |
By Hemanth Kissoon
“There are like two musicians that I like,” Roman (Dane DeHaan)
This reviewer has an automatic predisposition to movies set in extremes – the snow and the desert. Could it be because one is a coddled metropolis dweller, and vicarious thrills are received within the moderated temperature of a cinema? From LAWRENCE OF ARABIA to NORTHERN EXPOSURE, human adventure and endurance in the wilds can really wow. Werner Herzog surely understands? Look at narrative features AGUIRRE and FITZCARRALDO (albeit in a jungle context), and documentaries ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD and TAIGA. Making films in these conditions can’t be easy. Green screen visual effects backdrops do not cut it for me.
“There are like two musicians that I like,” Roman (Dane DeHaan)
This reviewer has an automatic predisposition to movies set in extremes – the snow and the desert. Could it be because one is a coddled metropolis dweller, and vicarious thrills are received within the moderated temperature of a cinema? From LAWRENCE OF ARABIA to NORTHERN EXPOSURE, human adventure and endurance in the wilds can really wow. Werner Herzog surely understands? Look at narrative features AGUIRRE and FITZCARRALDO (albeit in a jungle context), and documentaries ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD and TAIGA. Making films in these conditions can’t be easy. Green screen visual effects backdrops do not cut it for me.
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An icy setting is obviously not enough. TWO LOVERS AND A BEAR fluidly, continually shifts narrative gear and tone, as an adroit example of how to hold the attention. Two rising stars are the focus: Tatiana Maslany (ORPHAN BLACK) and Dane DeHaan (THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES). They have acting chops, bringing to life an at times surreal love story tinged with darkness. Their characters are victims of abuse and they initially seek solace in escape, and then movingly realise it is within their grasp in each other.
Elevating an already ambitious take on companionship, comes in the form of Roman’s ability to speak to polar bears, specifically one voiced by Gordon Pinsent (who also winningly played Fraser’s dead father in DUE SOUTH). At occasional times of emotional distress, the unnamed bear turns up to give unasked for advice/observations. One wonders if the animal is a symptom of a fractured mind until a kid witnesses it listening to Roman. (A community delusion?)
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Don’t worry, there is no whimsy here. Lucy (Maslany) has nightmares about her father, who is deceased and cannot be punished. She and the film seem to ask: How do you start to heal without the impetus of justice? No easy answers are offered. There is perhaps a suggestion that finding someone who understands, to share it, will accelerate the distance from the trauma. TWO LOVERS AND A BEAR has melancholy tinged with hope.
All of this during awe-inspiring vistas and engagingly restless storytelling. From ice fishing to snowmobile-skiing, and stylish slow-mo house partying, in the middle of nowhere, near the North Pole, we get a glimpse of a community not interested in shopping malls and the latest consumable. Who is attracted to this kind of place? Television show FORTITUDE suggests extreme personalities, here those with a past trying to be evaded.
TWO LOVERS AND A BEAR evolves. To reveal to what would spoil the enjoyment for those who do not like to be spoon-fed the same narrative over and over again.
Ever since THE THING, I've revelled in films set in the snow. This is a f**king doozy. Romantic. Tense. Funny. Stunning.
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