Bear (2011 film)

2011 Australian film

Bear

Directed by| Nash Edgerton
Written by| David Michod
Nash Edgerton
Produced by| Lauren Edwards
John Polson
Starring| Nash Edgerton
Teresa Palmer
Warwick Thornton
Cinematography| Adam Arkapaw
Edited by| Nash Edgerton
Music by| Ben Lee
Ione Skye
Jack Graddis

Production
companies

Blue-Tongue Films
Peachy Pictures
Fxphd

Release date

* 21 May 2011 (2011-05-21) (Cannes)

Running time

| 11 minutes
Country| Australia
Language| English

Bear is a 2011 Australian short black comedy drama film directed by Nash Edgerton and written by David Michod and Nash Edgerton.[1][2][3][4] The film had its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2011.[5][6][7]

## Plot

[edit]

Emelie is greatly annoyed by her significant other Jack. After she leaves to ride her bicycle along a trail, Jack gets into his car with a box and drives to the trail. As Emelie is riding her bike, she is startled by a bear, and accidentally falls off a cliff. Behind the bear, there are colourful birthday decorations. The bear, revealed to be Jack in a bear costume, rushes down the cliff to Emelie's side. After reconciling with the injured Emelie, he jokingly puts the bear mask back on, and is shot by a bear hunter.

## Cast

[edit]

* Nash Edgerton as Jack
* Teresa Palmer as Emelie
* Warwick Thornton as Ranger

## Reception

[edit]

### Critical response

[edit]

The film earned mainly positive reviews from critics. Ivan Kander of short of the week gave film the positive review said "Edgerton isn’t trying to surprise you—he already pulled off that magic trick once with Spider. Instead, he’s reveling a bit in a sort of misanthropic playground. Our protagonist is a cartoon character of sorts—the Wile E. Coyote of cinematic schadenfreude. He’s always getting himself, and his loved ones, into the darndest, deadliest situations. And, all the while, we can’t help but laugh at his misfortune."[8] David Brook of blue print review gave the film three and a half out of five stars and said "A sequel to Spider, Bear basically replays the gag in a new setting. Predictable of course for this reason, but still funny and well produced."[9] Another critic in his review said that "Reviewing a film this short is going to be fairly similar to reviewing an advert, because and with so little time to build character or a world, it essentially comes down to did you did or did you didn’t like the punch. In this case, I did, it gave me a legitimate ‘ I didn't see that coming’ moment, upon the fact that it was coolly put together and even pulls of a very impressive stunt. Not one I'll remember for the rest of my days for sure, but an amusing distraction, which is exactly what I think it was designed to be."[10]

### Accolades

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Year  | Award  | Category  | Recipient  | Result

|
|
|
|

2011  | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or \- Best Short Film  | Nash Edgerton | Nominated[5]
Leeds International Film Festival | Louis le Prince International Short Film | Nash Edgerton | Won[11]
Strasbourg International Film Festival | Golden Octopus for the best international short fantastic film | Nash Edgerton | Won[12]
2012  | Flickerfest International Short Film Festival | Best Direction in an Australian Short Film  | Nash Edgerton | Won[13][14]

The film received an honorable mention in the category "Best narrative short film" at the 12th International Cycling Film Festival 2017\.

## Notes

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Bear is part of a trilogy of short films by Edgerton, consisting of Spider (2007),[15] Bear (2011) and Shark (2021)

## See also

[edit]

* Cinema of Australia
* Spider

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Watch Nash Edgerton's Twisted Short Film BEAR Starring Teresa Palmer". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
2. ^ "Unpack Your Sick Sense of Humor for Nash Edgerton's Short Film 'Bear'". Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
3. ^ "COOL VIDEOS: AWESOME SHORT FILM BEAR FROM DIRECTOR NASH EDGERTON AND STARRING TERESA PALMER". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
4. ^ "Must Watch: Nash Edgerton's Sundance Short 'Bear' with Teresa Palmer". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
5. ^ a b "Edgerton film to compete at Cannes". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
6. ^ "Nash Edgerton's short film Bear selected for competition at Cannes". Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
7. ^ "Nash Edgerton's Short Film 'Bear' to Screen at Cannes". Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
8. ^ "Bear:JACK HAS THE PERFECT BIRTHDAY SURPRISE PLANNED FOR EMELIE. SOMETIMES, THOUGH, PLANS GO HORRIFICALLY WRONG. THE NEW SHORT FILM FROM BLUE TONGUE FILMS & NASH EDGERTON". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
9. ^ "CELLULOID SCREAMS SHORTS 2011". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
10. ^ "Bear Review". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
11. ^ "LIFF25 Award Winners". Archived from the original on 23 November 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
12. ^ "Palmarès du festival de Strasbourg....fantastique!". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
13. ^ "The Palace wins best Australian short film at Flickerfest". Retrieved 18 May 2013.
14. ^ "Anthony Maras' The Palace wins Best Aus Short Film at 2012 Flickerfest Festival". Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
15. ^ "BEAR". Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* Bear at IMDb
* Bear at Rotten Tomatoes
* https://web.archive.org/web/20160127235537/http://press.sundance.org/38314?format=pdf&press=1

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Nash Edgerton

* Spider (2007)
* The Square (2008)
* Bear (2011)
* Gringo (2018)
* Shark (2021)

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