Indie filmmakers are drawn to cabins in the woods like moths to a flame. On this occasion, it’s DIY director Allison (Aubrey Plaza) who flutters her way to an Adirondack artist retreat run by Gabe (Chris Abbott) and his pregnant partner Blair (Sarah Gadon). Desperately in need of inspiration, Allison doesn’t much care what must be sacrificed to achieve it. As she bids to manufacture "authenticity", Lawrence Michael Levine’s film and its players are abruptly reborn in notably different guises.

With the clever hipster whodunnit Wild Canaries already on his permanent record, Levine further refines his dark comic sensibilities here. At its Sundance premiere in January, Black Bear was hailed as a poignant snapshot of contemporary culture. Now, it seems more like a time capsule of a solipsistic era that was unwittingly teetering on the brink of extinction. This potent subtext lends the on-screen machinations an exhilarating fatalistic air.

"A dark comic millennial spin on the Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? template, buoyed by three expertly modulated performances and acidic bon mots." - A.A. Dowd, AV Club