Unedited Footage of a Bear

Is this a commentary? Just one big joke? An exercise in Dadaist absurdity? Is there some hidden meaning that multiple viewings and finely tuned analyses will uncover?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and without clear expression otherwise, so is intent. But this much is certain: Even for a format where creators frequently challenge all convention of narrative storytelling and cinematic artistry, this short is an oddity.

Not knowing anything of 'Unedited footage of a bear' ahead of time, I was quite prepared to watch, well, 10 minutes of unedited footage of a bear. Imagine my surprise.

The plot, such as it is - conveyed with a singular tiny thread consistently running throughout the length - certainly keeps our attention. It's riveting, even if the exact course of events is a little unclear. The short is very well made, and I get a sense that whatever the filmmakers' concept was, they held the notion very clearly in their minds and approached the production with unwavering resolve. Not one shot, moment, or scene seems out of place, ill-considered, or given less than 100% of all involved: If I had to guess, the final cut completely matches the original idea, beat for beat. True, this may be partly because of the dark, absolutely whimsical nature that prevents us from genuinely guessing at the writers' vision - but bizarrerie in and of itself, no matter how incomprehensible, doesn't preclude quality of craftmanship, nor one's ability to appreciate it.

Is this review making sense? Should it, under the circumstances? Let they who have understanding transcribe a few words on a peculiar film shrouded in the mystery of an innocuous title without spoiling it, and without also adopting the very eccentricity they hope to evaluate.

Fun, ridiculous, wild, well-made, offbeat. I can't imagine 'Unedited footage of a bear' has a particularly large audience, but for those who dare to give this a try: Welcome.

This short is absolutely incredible, but let me explain myself.

I discovered this thanks to a french YouTuber who analyzed this short in depths and invited people beforehand to watch it for themselves, which is what I did. And oh boy was my first viewing experience unsettling. Like this short was really me being utterly confused and semi-terrified as to what was going on onscreen. But I was mostly confused as to what just happened, I felt like random scenes were put against each other with no real meaning. What an utter fool I was thinking that.

The analysis of this short made me realize one thing: every single detail, object, background... Everything was calculated and put there for a specific reason. Nothing was there randomly. And oh boy with every element there was, it is pretty hard to understand what's going on. But when everything is coming together, you can fully understand how genius all of this is.

I won't explain much since it would ruin the whole point of watching this for yourself, which you should definitely do because it is quite the experience. While I got help in understanding all of this from the video of the YouTuber I've mentioned earlier, I got some parts together myself and it felt quite good aha. This short is a critic of something that is not quite mentioned or talked about in artistic projects, which is the medication and health system in the US, as well as addiction problems.

The rabbit hole goes so far down there is (or was, I don't think it exist anymore) a hidden website with some sort of exploring map of a house (house that is the main location of the short) that kinda remind us of Google Maps or point and click games from the 90s. Either way, the whole "lore" around Unedited Footage of a Bear, and all the details you begin to understand as time goes on make the whole experience really worth it. The only reason it's not a 10/10 is simply because not everybody has the time and will to do all of this research and exploring for simply one short, yet I'd still recommend doing so or just watching the short. It's simply terrifying aha.

Overall, absolutely incredible. I wish to see more infomercials like this in the future!

If this is what we can expect from Alan Resnick in the future, then I want more. With a relatively small budget, he's made a genuinely impressive short. (I'm aware there's a website tie-in to this, but I didn't look into it, so I won't comment on it other than saying it exists.) First of all, this short is greatly helped by the way it was broadcast. Seeing this at 3 a.m. Is definitely (probably) the best way to experience this. Sadly, I didn't. What makes me say this in the first place is the weird, lucid dream feel that Resnick creates. This lends to a lot of comedy and horror, and it's balanced better than in a lot of mainstream horror-comedy efforts. Certain shots are burned into my memory, not because they're "terrifying," but because they're so unique. There were plenty of points throughout the short that I just thought to myself, "This is awesome." If Resnick had a budget for a feature, I really hope he'd be able to do something that's up to this quality. So to all producers out there: PLEASE give this man more money, he is a treasure.

I mean seriously, this is "Unedited Footage of a Bear", so do we really have to talk about it? I could say a lot of great things about this movie, like how it is unedited, for example. Also one can and should not ignore the fact that this film is real footage. And of course, lastly, it is a movie about a bear; what's not to love? First off, they are brown (mostly) and also they are wild animals. It's really cool to see one (bear) out in the wild, just going about its day. Viewers immediately ask: will the bear be like me some how? Answer: no (it's a bear, duh) but also, bears are cool on their own, they don't need to be like us. In conclusion, watch this piece of cinematic history and enjoy the fact that you're not a bear, because you're "human" or don't, because bears are awesome.

"Horrifyingly abstract" completely describes the entire short. It's approximately 10 minutes long with a bear! Roll credits! No, I'm joking of course. This is adult swim, you wouldn't expect real footage of a bear in a short titled as such. No, it's about 30 seconds of unedited footage of a bear! Then it cuts to an infomercial. This infomercial goes on for a minute, and then follows Donna, who is a likely anxiety-filled, schizophrenic woman. She drives with a horrified look, checking around her, and the next 6 or 7 minutes follow pure dread. She stops, finds a strange clone, and is assaulted by said clone with no dialogue stated. I won't spoil this masterpiece, stop reading this and start watching this!