Canada at Cannes: First Reactions to 'Two Lovers and a Bear'
Photo courtesy of Max Films
Canada’s second turn to bat at Cannes seems to be a hit.
Reports say that War Witch director
Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear
premiered to great applause on Wednesday. The reviews are largely positive with
special praise going to Nguyen’s use of magical realism and evocative use of
the arctic landscape, while the performances by Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan
are drawing strong notices. Critics and Croisette-goers also seem to like the
appearance of Gordon Pinsent as a talking bear, which is a surprise previously
unrevealed in the film’s coverage. Here are the first reactions and we’ll
update as more Two Lovers and a Bear
news comes in. Peter Howell speculates on a TIFF slot, so we’ll keep fingers
crossed for the film’s North American Premiere.
Variety:
Nguyen’s snow-white weepie is about as far as one can get — in
both thematic and geographical terms — from his Oscar-nominated “War
Witch,” though it does share that film’s peculiar blend of open-wound realism
and near-mystical hallucination… Here in this incredible location, Nguyen
actively encourages our imaginations to go wild, teasing anxieties that
typically only come out in the most effective horror movies…
Somehow, in the final stretch, Nguyen has transformed what
felt like a relatively generic, un-special indie love story into something
totally unpredictable, taking full advantage of the gorgeous widescreen lensing
to convey the atmosphere and magic of his locations... The film’s final image
is one of incredible, heart-catching poignancy, one whose foundations trace
back to what at the time felt like throwaway scenes in its opening minutes, and
for the few who actually see this movie, the power of that ending will make the
entire experience virtually impossible to forget.
The Hollywood Reporter: Unlike in War Witch, the
writer-director’s ballsy ambition isn’t channeled into a sophisticated but
smooth overarching storyline. Some individual scenes are certainly striking and
the couple’s complex relationship and chemistry are believable but the overall
narrative retains an erratic and somewhat jerky quality as the various elements
don’t always logically build on what has come before.
Toronto Star: Nguyen employs some magic realism, as he did in 2012 with his
Oscar-nominated child soldier drama Rebelle (War Witch), to make snowy
landscapes rhythmically heave as if they’re a human chest breathing...
No computer can outmatch nature’s imposing creations, caught
by cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc’s wide lens and enhanced by Jesse Zubot’s
electronic score.
The
Film Stage: Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear is a film that
suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Like an indie playlist stuck on
constant shuffle, unapologetically reveling in a sort of manic unclassifiable
genre. This isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, but, for some reason,
Nguyen’s scattershot tonal shifts — which hop between a romance on the rocks; a
self-serious study of grieving; and a surreal buddy comedy — can prove quite
jarring.
Games
Radar: As far as Lucy and Roman are concerned, they’re the only two people
in the world, a fact Nguyen and cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc make explicit by
placing them in a series of breathtakingly barren polar vistas. The alien
environments also play host to some unsettling sights, including a herd of deer
half submerged in a frozen lake after falling to their deaths. It’s this
willingness to go to darker places that sets Two Lovers and a Bear apart –
despite the romance there’s a realism and a brutality to the world that Nguyen
doesn’t shy away from, landing gut punches that won’t soon be forgotten.
CineFile:
Of course not easy to twist, Two Lovers and Bear manages to surprise
at every turn, and despite being totally centered around the two main
characters very well conveys the vastness of the desert of ice around them as
well as its danger. Nguyen is good to alternate the records and to create
extremely well managed sequences without overdoing it, never a wrong time (one,
maybe ...) and coming to a conclusion of great emotional impact.
