Bear Week Diaries

When one hears the word “Bear,” many different images come to mind, from majestic grizzlies to cuddly pandas to a Chicago football team and even a cartoon character named Yogi. But, for those in the LGBTQ+ community, the term “Bear” has a different meaning: it refers to a subculture of this diverse constituency made up primarily of big, burly, furry men known for their beards and bellies, masculine gents often compared to lumberjacks. And, despite their plentiful ranks, Bears are also largely unknown outside of the gay world (and often not especially well known inside it, either). However, their somewhat inconspicuous nature aside, Bears are famous for their well-attended unabashed social gatherings, weekend (or longer) celebrations (often called “runs”) characterized by prolific drinking, eating, dancing and erotic encounters. One of the most popular such assemblages is the annual summer congregation at Provincetown Bear Week on the tip of Massachusetts’s Cape Cod, a longtime sanctuary for those leading alternate lifestyles, including members of the gay community. And that event is now the subject of director Antongiulio Panizzi’s third feature outing, a chronicle of sorts of the weeklong pleasure-filled celebration. As a member of the Bear community myself, I’m gratified to see “my people” profiled on screen like this. However, at the same time, the end result here is somewhat disappointing. The main reason for this is the picture’s format – a hybrid documentary and narrative feature, a combination that, to be honest, is just downright … odd. That’s something I’d probably say about any film employing such a format, because it’s fundamentally difficult to determine how a vehicle like this should be taken. How much of it is a documentary? How much of it is fiction? And how are viewers supposed to determine the difference when it comes to assessing the content (and, even when it’s obvious, the distinction is frequently inherently awkward)? Indeed, is the material tha...