THE BEAVER (2011)

cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence  
Directed by Jodie Foster
Distributed by Summit Entertainment

release date: May , 2011 (limited release in US)


Rotten Tomatoes 
IMDB

Many of you have a different stand when it comes to Mel Gibson as a person. But The Beaver  manages to put to the fore Gibson the actor, and we do get to see how good that part of him truly is.

 THE BEAVER tells the tale of  Walter Black, a man suffering from extreme depression making him a failure both at home and at work. With his company at an all time low, and with his wife asking him to leave the house, Black knows that his life is totally in the dumps. That is until he picks up a beaver hand-puppet from the dumpster.

 Soon enough, the man who was contemplating suicide finds a new friend and mentor in a puppet beaver and his life begins to make a drastic change for the better. Though it helps Walter Black to move forward with his life, he begins to realize that there is no turning back at this point.

 Also addressing the issue of how depression runs in the family, we have a subplot involving Walter’s older son Porter (Anton Yelchin). Porter, though very much like his father, spends his time trying to be anything but like Walter. But when he begins to face setbacks in his own personal life, he begins to struggle against his own depression and grief.

This subplot featuring Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence, as Porter’s love interest, is obviously the weak link to the whole enterprise. It really does not play out as strong when compared to the rest of the movie despite the screen time given for it to evolve. As a result, the struggle of the son and the equation with his father all gets lost somewhere in the translation. However both Yelchin and Lawrence put in their earnest bits.

Barring this glitch, the rest of the movie is all wonderfully mounted, led by an engaging performance from the lead man. The strength of Gibson’s  portrayal lies in how as we go along we do see the puppet turning into a character by itself, so much so that we begin to forget that it is only the actor talking to his hand. He does pull a darn good job here bringing out the anguish and pain to his depression- laden character hiding behind the zeal of his new found alter ego.

Foster, on the director’s chair, pull this off with great confidence treading along the lines of the different moods carefully. Switching on and off from dark comedy to melodrama is not everyone’s cup of tea and can easily go awry if not dealt right. But Foster the novice, goes about her job with the self-assurance of a veteran. And despite the strong presence she can cast on any movie, here the performer in her stays in the backdrop giving more of the focus to the father and the son tracks.

Eventually the movie manages to look at the illness of depression under a fresh approach without all the usual sappiness. With a prodigious performance at the helm of things, THE BEAVER is a flick that is strongly recommended.

Rating:  3.5 outta 5 

THE PANEL ROOM

Jodie Foster's visual instincts and Mel Gibson's all-in performance sell this earnest, straightforward movie. ROTTENTOMATOES  6.2/10

a flawed, erratic comedy-drama that nonetheless remains fascinating because of Gibson’s frenziedly committed performance Frank Sweitek   B-

"The Beaver" is almost successful, despite the premise of its screenplay, which I was simply unable to accept.  Roger Ebert  2.5 /4

Whatever you think of "The Beaver",director Jodie Foster's film reasserts the feverish, defiant, often gripping talent of actor Mel Gibson. Michael Phillips 2.5 /4

the story lacks honesty. For a film about the real problem of mental illness, it never feels authentic. Claudia Puig 2.5 /4