Thoughts on The Bear

via IMDB

*mewling*

*growling*

.................

*growling*

*mewling*

.................

*mewling and growling*
................
*contented sounds that are neither mewling nor growling*

An adorable, vulnerable girl* charms her way into the heart of a gruff single man. It worked for Little Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks. It worked for Punky Brewster and Henry. It worked for Youk and Kaar, the protagonists of The Bear.
*Youk, played by female bear Douce, is apparently a girl. When the movie was released in America, she was identified as a boy. Kaar, played by Bart the Bear, is unmistakably a man.

Youk, whose mother was fatally crushed by rocks, meets Kaar, nursing the wound after he's non-fatally shot**. The pair form a father and daughter-style relationship, occasionally interrupted by Big Lipped Alligator Moments like Youk having a nightmare about the accident that orphaned her***, discretely watching Kaar's apparent hit-it-and-quit-it encounter with a female, or getting high off a 'shroom. Kaar received his wound from hunter Tom (Tchéky Karyo), who stalks the bears with his older companion Bill (Jack Wallace). There's an air of "this time, it's personal" in the man vs. bear conflict, as Kaar was responsible for the death of a horse and Tom's best dog friend, but the plot element doesn't outlast its welcome.
**I'm not sure if we're supposed to assume the bullet remains in Kaar's shoulder, was eventually removed by Youk or merely grazed him. The shooting doesn't appear to have had an impact on Kaar's everyday life and besides, the movie is focusing its attention on the beauty of caring for another.
***She also had a early, frog-related nightmare, which I don't think was supposed to mean anything.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, from Gérard Brach's adaptation of The Grizzly King by James Oliver Curwood, and with the assistance of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, The Bear tells a familiar but charming story. The movie succeeds where The Adventures of Milo and Otis failed, presenting thrills and sentimentality while (presumably) respecting its leads. What a lovable pair they are. 

"There is a greater pleasure than that of killing, it is that of leaving life."

Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $32 million on a $20 million budget, this opened at No. 3 and came in at No. 38 for the year.

-- Critic's Corner: While noting the movie did engage in personification, namely having Youk and Kaar occasionally display human-like characteristics, Roger Ebert pointed out the movie also "(reminds) us that these are wild beasts for whom killing, and being killed, is a fact of life." 

-- Awards Watch: This won Césars for Annaud's direction and Noëlle Boisson's editing. It was also nominated for Best Film, Best Cinematography (by Philippe Rousselot, also nominated for a BAFTA), Best Sound and Best Poster. The editing was Oscar-nominated, but lost to Born on the Fourth of July. France's official selection for the Best Foreign Language Film category was Camille Claudel. That's for 1989; I'm unsure if this film was under consideration for the 1988 awards. Annaud did won an Oscar from the French Academy Awards.

-- My goal is to hopefully finish my assignment of The Films of 1989 and present a Best and Worst Awards. I'm seriously considering nominating Bart for Best Actor and Douce for Best Supporting Actress. So, you know, be prepared, Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker.

-- Next: Crimes and Misdemeanors. On Deck: Henry V.