PG-13 for some disturbing content, language, mature thematic material, sexuality and a drug reference
Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Cherry Jones, Riley Thomas Stewart
Director: Jodie Foster
Don't get me wrong... it's not a bad movie. Actually, it's pretty well-made; written and directed with admirable skill and acted with superlative skill. Matching the film's competency, however, is the potential for viewer inaccessibility to the source material. This had to have been a hard movie to make. It's an even harder movie to connect with on an emotional level.
Kyle Killen's screenplay bounced around Hollywood for years, with a multitude of directors and actors attached to the project at various points. Jodie Foster ended up at the helm and Mel Gibson in the lead. Gibson is a good, solid choice for the chronically depressed Walter Black. Playing a man who speaks solely through a puppet nestled on the end of his left arm without slipping into compulsory comic schtick is no easy task. Through Gibson's performance, we never lose sight of the fact that this is a man floating in a sea of mental illness, seeking whatever beacon might be out there.
We're told at the outset via voice-over narration that Walter has been despondent for years. Depression is a formidably familiar entity slithering through his familial lineage. It took the life of his father, and already seems to be making an imprint on his son, Porter (Anton Yelchin), who spends his free time decorating his bedroom wall with post-it notes identifying the very qualities in his father he wishes to avoid, and literally beating his head against the wall.
Walter's wife, Meredith (Jodie Foster) is an engineer who designs roller coasters for a living. She spends her work hours conjuring up methods to launch stationary riders into a flexuous frenzy of mind-bending, wind-whipping madness while attempting the opposite at home. She has struggled to maintain a sense of sanity in the house, but her patience has waved the white flag. She asks him to leave.
While out one night, Walter comes across a tattered beaver puppet in a dumpster. He retrieves it, brings it to some semblance of life with an Australian accent, and soon finds he's better able to communicate with his family and colleagues. His youngest son (Riley Thomas Stewart) is won over, and Meredith is convinced just enough to allow Walter back, but remains skeptical of this attempt at social connection. Porter is nowhere near convinced, and retreats to his own budding relationship with his high school's lovely valedictorian, Norah (Jennifer Lawrence) whose insecurity has propelled her to ask Porter to write her graduation speech for her.
The film is essentially an examination into the relationships as Walter's loved ones struggle to reach him. They see a man inching closer to normal... except that a puppet is doing the legwork. Gibson's performance is crucial. He doesn't play anything for pure laughs, but instead makes Walter into a representation of the charming man he most likely was before depression struck. The catch is, he can only do this with the beaver in tow. What's more maddening to his wife? A completely despondent husband? Or a tantalizingly-close-to-happy one with an unavoidable caveat that manages to keep him at a perpetual arm's length away from true emotional fulfillment?
The movie also gives Porter a healthy dose of attention as he struggles to evade a possible mental state he knows could be lurking. His relationship with Norah is often sweet, but also fraught with possible ulterior motives. At one point, he blindsides her in an effort to get her to open up about an event in her past, and we start to wonder about his intentions. Does he truly want to connect? Or is he seeking proof that even "perfect" people can hide dysfunction? Probably both.
The film is intriguing, but not completely fulfilling. Perhaps that's a given from the outset. It mistakenly attempts to force a happy conclusion (including a voice-over sentiment during the last shot that I don't believe to be actually true). It should have ended one scene earlier, where characters reach various levels of understanding and acceptance in lieu of happy endings. This isn't warm and fuzzy material here. Some viewers will be put off. Still, I recommend it because it's intriguing. Because it's demanding. Because it's bold enough to focus on a relationship between a man and a puppet, and challenges us to contemplate the nature of that relationship and all that it affects.
* * * out of * * * * stars
