Meet Walter Black (Mel Gibson). A man who, at one time in his life, had everything anyone could ask for. A great job as a rank and file member of a large toy company with a beautiful, accomplished family to come home to. But this man is no where to be found, as Walter now is a depressed, loathsome individual who has lost touch of everything and everyone of value. Realizing his harmful effects on the family, he moves out in hopes that his “Walden”-esque living situation will lead him to greener pastures. This leaves the rest of the group to continue on the day-to-day routine: Meredith (Jodie Foster) is a strong business woman who allows her work to take her out of the reality of a broken home; Porter (Aton Yelchin) is an intelligent, yet guarded teenager that is making it his immediate life goal to be nothing like his father; Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart) is a shy grade school kid whose lonesome environment seems to be cultivating an isolated person.
One evening in his hotel room, Walter makes a comically disastrous suicide attempt. And as he does, he hears a voice coming from the ratty beaver hand puppet he (for whatever reason) has on his arm during the ordeal. When he comes to the next morning (after being knocked out by a CRT television falling on his head), he carries on a conversation with himself through the beaver, who urges Walter to start taking chances to rise out of the perpetual funk and get back all the things that mean the most. This is the launching point for a humorous, yet dark journey of redemption where one man and one puppet will try and not only cure what ails him personally, but also reach out to the other troubled members of the estranged family and alleviate their own anxieties, fears, and hindrances.
The first word I would use to describe this movie is ambitious. They have quite an idea, and there definitely isn’t a clear cut blueprint from other independent films that can be applied to establish the usual generic conventions. To assist this “frontiersman spirit” the movie moves along at a fantastic clip. Unlike a good number of indie selections that tend to “dwell” on certain actions or happenings and squeeze out all the emotion possible out of a scene, The Beaver lets the developing plot flow freely and consistently. Foster’s direction and Kyle Killen’s writing adds the right amount of comedic quips to make sure the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously while allowing the audience to relate to what’s going on in the narrative. This emphasis placed on walking the fine line between drama and comedy is the main reason for the constant movement. The events happen -give you time to digest their effect and significance- and then it’s “on to the next one.”
The editing also helps this foundation take root and blossom. The Beaver features a nice mosaic of cuts with varying lengths, transitions, and musical accompaniment. The cinematography is pretty vanilla for most of the film, but a few shots are simply beautiful and adds real power to the scene. A tip of the hat is deserving to Director of Photography Hagen Bogdanski. The performances in the film are, overall, solid and do more to push the story than become the centerpiece. Gibson’s portrayal as a conflicted and troubled man is one he does very well (see Ransom) and that prowess is on display here as well. The puppeteer work he does is so convincing, that I would forget to make sure I bounced between his real face and the beaver’s. A slew of emotions come across in Mel’s expressions, but you become entranced with the thing on his arm. This seems to be a definite “dividing line” for a number of folks on this movie. I honestly didn’t have a problem with “buying into” this puppet being a tool of rehabilitation. The other characters themselves lob quite a bit of skepticism and even scorn towards “the new guy (well, beaver),” but the film makes it clear that Walter has tried all of the common methods for dealing with depression, and this is in essence a “last ditch effort” to right the ship. Gibson clearly creates this distinction while playing Walter.
For my money, though, the best performance comes from Foster herself. Everyone else kind of has their own “island” of sorts within the proceedings, and her mother/wife road connects all of the moving parts together while displaying just the right amount of emotion and frailty while trying to facilitate a way to cope with her husband’s new representative. Anton Yelchin does a solid job with this role, but I wasn’t particularly high on the character’s persistent rigidity. I guess there has to be at least one on the side of “no way, not falling for it” for the sake of balance, but there is no give and take offered to his dad during the roller coaster highs and lows. I also wasn’t a huge fan of his love connection with Jennifer Lawrence’s character Norah. Their side story does eventually contribute something to the narrative’s broader scope, but I think this occupation kind of takes Porter out of some crucial breakthroughs and setbacks that Walter has throughout.
The presentation department is surprisingly pleasant. The Blu-Ray quality is just beautiful. Nice and crisp with good color tones that give it a true “indie” feel. The DTS-HD Master 5.1 is pretty clean with particularly solid balance and spacing. The Special Features section is a letdown in terms of numbers. I understand that independent efforts are not known for a sprawling extras section, but a few more would have been appreciated.
– “Everything is Going to Be O.K.” is a 12 minute featurette on the making of The Beaver and has Foster talking about the delicate balance of comedy and drama that needed to be observed for the production to work. Gibson, Yelchin, and Lawrence also share their thoughts on the movie and detail what it was like working on-set with such a talented group.
There is also Commentary with Foster and Deleted Scenes.