Brigsby Bear

“What is wrong with you?” “Well, I was abducted and I feel like that has something…” Yep. Still in love with this movie and everything it’s about. While I talked about it in length in my original review, I still think Brigsby Bear remains a love letter to what cinema does, and it’s nice to see that I’m reminded of that in a time frame where I saw such a thing happen. As I rewatch this I’m in the middle of the Barbenheimer phenomenon; two films doing very well, with people dressing up in outfits themed around the films and planning whole schedules around it and movies feeling like an event again! That’s what cinema is supposed to be about! And in the age where actors and writers are on strike and the whole industry is overwhelmed by constant bloated budgets and overworked people and the threat of the machines taking over the creative process, it’s nice to see something so genuine and so in love with the idea of making movies that it brings its characters together. And boy, did our protagonist James need that. I also find that on my revisit the jokes land harder and I actually find them funnier, which is always a nice improvement. There’s some really good and realistic writing in this film’s dialogue, I almost want to explain it as Napoleon Dynamite-esque and that is something I personally enjoy. I hear suggestions that this film isn’t as weird as it should be, and while I get why that criticism is made I personally disagree. I like Brigsby Bear and its quirky protagonist just the way they are. They’re perfect for what Kyle Mooney and Kevin Costello were going for.