First Take: Brigsby Bear- the surreal entry to awards season

SYNOPSIS- Brigsby Bear Adventures is a children’s TV show produced for an audience of one: James. When the show abruptly ends, James’s life changes forever, and he sets out to finish the story himself.

It wouldn’t be an awards run without the obligatory indie film that comes out of nowhere to surprise me at what directors outside of the Hollywood system can come up with. This is a very unique, strange, and downright charming film that could easily become a highlight in years to come.

SNL writer Dave McCary is the man in charge of this one of a kind comedy/drama, and while the film takes a while to get going, when it hits the high notes, it does it extremely well, delivering the right amount of emotion compared to laughs, and with a script from Kyle Mooney and Kevin Costello, sure, the pacing isn’t quite spot on, but the charm of the film’s script as well as Christian Sprenger’s cinematography and David Wingo’s score won me over by the minute the credits rolled.

Performance wise, the cast are great in this. The film’s writer Mooney takes the role of James with absolute ease, Mark Hamill puts in some brilliant work as ever (to say why could potentially ruin the film, the plot was kept under wraps during the PR run so I’ll be respecting that), and the supporting cast, which includes Greg Kinnear, Claire Danes and Andy Samberg amongst others are able to deliver work that makes this film stand out above the crowd in terms of my Film of the Year shortlist. A beautiful piece of irony because someone who may or may not have directed one of the films on that shortlist recommended Brigsby Bear for me to review.

THE VERDICT

Aside from a few pacing issues, this is a hell of a film, and while it will certainly go under the radar, this could easily be a big contender for the awards when the nominations start to come through in the next few weeks.

RATING- 4.5/5