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The Beaver
The Beaver

A movie directed by Jodie Foster

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One of the best movies about depression that don't look depressive at all.

  • Aug 29, 2011
Rating:
+3

The life of the troubled husband Walter Black proves that Jodie Foster could do much more as a director than anyone could think. She has the eye and the spirit for the job if she managed to turn a movie with a puppet into probably the best original drama of this year.

Walter Black (Mel Gibson) is a depressed man who surrounded by monotony, daily routine, empty weekends, work issues and family disaster tries to find a way out of his pathetic and sad life, a life he lived because he accepted it and fueled it with his own ego, dull behavior and mindless actions. He is a man that got caught in his own trap. He is a man close to hang himself. Close to jump from a balcony. He is a man who's selfish side always wins and decides to excuse him from the mistakes he made and pardon him from all the responsibility, pushing him over the edge of his own life and reality. But, accidentally or not, his favorite puppet becomes the voice of the warrior inside him. The split-personality process is shown perfectly in this film. The Beaver, his arm-puppet, gets to be the rational and the kind side of Walter and as long as he lives and could use his voice and express himself, the rusty and hurt side of Walter will stay hidden somewhere in some mind jail cell he built. With the help of "The Beaver", Walter finds a way home to his kids and wife, Meredith Black (Jodie Foster), a woman who fought for her husband as much as she could but felt forced to leave him and protect her kids from his own depression and strange behavior. Apparently, one of his kids, the older son, Porter Black (Anton Yelchin), is the "enemy" of both Walter and Beaver. Now The Beaver really finds himself in an awkward position. He made everyone love him and appreciate him back, he got his wife back, he got his company back on track, he got millions of people across America that find his story inspiring yet his own son despise him. The problems do not end here in this "hocus-bogus" show but they continue when the puppet becomes more than just "the good side".

The real issues appear when the puppet identifies with Walter and Walter lets The Beaver identify with the whole Walter. Then, Walter loses any track of responsibility, and he must find a way to regain his dominance and defeat this Beaver who sometimes looks more and more like a villain than the hero he once was. This inner fight is hard and might end badly for both of them but in the end, it's all about what Walter wants and not the Beaver. As you can see, the story is much more interesting and deep than it might seem. It's not a story about a puppet at all. It's a story about a man losing his own sanity, having problems with his personality and having a hard time integrating again into the -what we call- normal social world. And all of that thanks to his pathetic fall to depression, which is probably one of the worst enemies a human being could have. But this is exactly what I love about this movie. We live in an era where almost 1 from 3 people suffer from some kind of depression. This movie puts and end to this sad enemy and gives us hope and a reason to fight for our families, careers, and ultimately, our own mind and soul.

The dialogue is very well written and the story structure is pretty good but still the main focus of this film is not the bold story but this beautiful performance of Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson offers us one of the best portrayals of his career and definitely one of the best portrayals of 2011. I'm sure he found the character fascinating because I personally think he could easily identify with it in many aspects so it might have been easier for him than we think. The point is: this is Mel Gibson's movie thanks to his subtle yet powerful piece of acting but should we forget about Jodie Foster? As far as acting she does a good job yet nothing that really could stand out but as far as direction goes, she was more than just good. The attention to little details was impressive, the contrast and the cinematography looked very good and gave a sense of calm even though the story was far from being calm at all (there we have another good contrast), while the music matched all the portions in the film.

This is definitely one of the best movies about depression that don't look depressive at all. It's a must-see film for any film maniac out there and I don't think Mel could have had a better comeback than this one.

Storyline/Dialogue: 8/10
Acting: 9/10
Technical Execution: 8,1/10
Replay Value: 8/10
======================
Overall: 8,3

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More The Beaver reviews
review by . May 08, 2011
posted in Movie Hype
I am
I always support almost any actor/actress who is going for a new position in filmmaking by watching their movies. Actors such as Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven), Mel Gibson (Braveheart) and Jon Favreau (Iron Man) have had their successes when the transition from performer to the one behind the camera came and now, it may be time for Jodie Foster (Silence of the Lambs) to shine as director (corrected: her first project was Little Man Tate. Thanks, @Trekscribbler). It is with this mindset that …
review by . September 25, 2011
posted in Movie Hype
** out of ****     The Jodie Foster-directed drama "The Beaver" misses success because of its subject matter. You probably know what the film is about; a depressed father (Mel Gibson) finds a puppet beaver in a dumpster and develops a sort of alternate ego whenever his hand is inserted in the stuffed mammal's asshole. The beaver speaks in a British accent; and is smarter, more emotionally capable than Gibson's character ever was. This opens new doors for the character, although …
review by . May 08, 2011
posted in Movie Hype
Damned.
THE BEAVER   Written By Kyle Killen   Directed by Jodie Foster   Starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence       The Beaver: Everybody needs a friend, Walter, and you’ve got me.       Who does depression hurt? Everybody. Ordinarily, this would mean to include everyone directly involved with a person suffering from depression but thanks to Jodie Foster, now depression can also hurt everyone …
Quick Tip by . September 16, 2012
posted in Movie Hype
What can I say? I'm a big fan of both Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster. I'd probably watched any movie by them as long as it's not perverted! The Beaver is a light movie about a heavy subject matter. I think as a movie goer (although I actually watched it downloaded through an app) we, at least I, won't choose any depressive material as subject matter. Hence, a movie about a depressed man could hardly be attractive enough to go to the cinema for, even if it stars both Gibson & Foster. It may just be …
review by . May 10, 2011
posted in Movie Hype
Star Rating:         The great tragedy of The Beaver is that it cannot be taken seriously. It employs a first-rate cast and the performances are excellent, but the premise is such that (1) not even suspension of disbelief can work you through it, and (2) even if it could, the film doesn’t send an especially worthwhile message. I’m well aware that depression is real and that there are numerous ways to cope with it, but I don’t believe that the particular …
review by . April 25, 2011
posted in Movie Hype
'The Beaver' 'Two Jews On Film' Only One Feels For This Furry Puppet (Video)
'The Beaver' stars Mel Gibson as Walter Black/The Beaver.  The movie is directed by Jodie Foster who plays Walter's long suffering wife Meredith.       Walter, a once successful toy executive and family man suffers from major depression.  No matter what he tries...(pills, therapy, exercise, flagellating himself) Walter cannot shake the feeling that life is meaningness and all is hopeless.  This dude is really in the dumps.   …
see all The Beaver reviews (7)
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Details

Director: Jodie Foster
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Release Date: 20 May 2011 (USA)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Screen Writer: Kyle Killen
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