The Beaver Review

The Beaver Review

Make no mistake The Beaver is not a feel good movie.  It is not light summer fun.  It is not a comedy, or even a dark comedy.  Yes it has some clever moments, and some moments that will make you laugh.  These moments of laughter are more out of discomfort than of humor.  Jodie Foster is a great director.  Her two previous features, Little man Tate, and Home for the Holidays, are two of my favorite movies.  With the Beaver she has created another small picture that is honest, and meaningful.  You can include this as another perfect swing in her flawless directorial career.  The Beaver is a dark movie, with a sensitive soul, and real sincerity that cannot be ignored.

Mel Gibson, who may or may not be mentally ill himself, plays Walter Black, a deeply depressed individual who cannot cope with his life in any capacity.  His depression has left him hopelessly stagnant, unable to do anything but sleep. The depression leads to the breakdown of his personal relationships with his wife, played perfectly by Jodie Foster, and his two sons.  The eldest son, Porter, played by Anton Yelchin despises his father. He hates his father not only because of what his father's disease has done to their relationship, but because he sees himself becoming like him.  Walter is seriously disturbed, and the events that occur in the movie only continue to strengthen is disassociation with reality. When Walter first discovers the beaver he is instantly different, experiencing a new mania, full of ideas, and energy.  His wife is skeptical at first, but soon accepts his "treatment" and things seem to return to normal.  Porter on the other hand is cynical, and cannot be won over by the charming beaver, or its seemingly beneficial influence on his father.  Porter is of course going through his own personal struggles, he is a prolific term paper writer, who is currently struggling to write the valedictorian's graduation speech for her, mostly because he has a crush on her, but also because she is a bit of a mystery to him. After a while the beaver looses its charm with his wife, and she begins to confront Walter, asking him to become himself again. Needless to say this doesn't go over well, and the family disintegrates once again. When his wife leaves with the kids Walter returns to his depression and this time the beaver can't help. There is a point in this movie when I realized that The Beaver is essentially is the same character as Tyler Durden.  A personality split our main character has created in order to cope with his mental defect.  Just like in Fight Club when Walter  realizes his "helper" is nothing more than a dissociative disorder, mayhem ensues. 

You could make a significant argument that The Beaver is really just an allegory for our over medicated society.  That the beaver is merely a metaphor for prozac, or any other anti depressant. I think you could also make a strong argument that the story is about realizing that no matter what happens to us, no matter how we are feeling we are not alone, we are never alone, and that there is always hope.  The movie's real strengths however lie in its performances.  Mel Gibson gives an incredibly outstanding performance in this movie.  His performance is so real, so intense, so nuanced, and so perfect that he should undoubtedly be in contention, if not the front runner come Oscar time. There are times in this movie that he allows you to forget that the beaver is just a puppet, and then there are times when he forces us to. Also to be noted is Anton Yelchin, who's portrayal of Porter should also be a contender for Best Supporting Actor. The movie is as much about Porter as it is about Walter, and without the strong performance of Yelchin the movie could have easily fallen apart.

There is not much more I can say about the movie, it is incredibly well made, and while I do think it will be easily overlooked this summer, It will hopefully be remembered come awards season. I encourage everyone to see it when they get the opportunity.

The Beaver opens in select cities on May 6th, 2011