Mel Gibson needs a comeback. A makeover. Something to help us forget the lunacy of his last few years. His anti-Semitic rantings combined with his domestic issues have left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths, making movies starring him like a toxic wasteland. Just look at what happened to Edge of Darkness
a couple of years ago. But is The Beaver the movie to help change the world's mind about him? Should it be? It's been interesting over the last few months as people have speculated whether it would be more than career salvation for Gibson, but a personal one as well. If you're going to even bother to see The Beaver, then the first thing you must do is forget everything you've heard about Gibson. Just brush it all aside and pretend this is 1999 or something. If you can't do it, if you can't just accept him as just another actor with a crappy personal life, then you're wasting your time. The Beaver's premise is far too wild for you to go in with anything other than an open mind. Gibson is Walter Black, the chronically depressed CEO of a toy company. Walter is so depressed that he can barely get out of bed in the morning. We're never exactly told why, except for a brief bit about his job maybe being too much for him to handle. Walter's condition has had a disastrous effect on his family. His youngest son misses his father and is bullied in school. Porter(Anton Yelchin), his oldest son about to graduate high school, is so terrified of becoming like his father that he writes down their similarities on the wall, literally banging his head to rid himself of them. Worst of all is what the depression has done to his wife, Meredith(Jodie Foster, who also directs). Unable to cope with the change in the man she loves, and unwilling to watch her kids suffer through it, she kicks Walter out of the house.
As Walter's life continues to spiral ever downward, he happens upon an old puppet in a garbage dump. For whatever reason, he's drawn to it. After failing in successive attempts to kill himself, he finally hits rock bottom and wakes up to an epiphany of sorts. Walter dons a thick Cockney accent and begins speaking solely through the puppet, which he calls "The Beaver". The puppet gives him a new lease on life, saying the things that Walter has been too depressed, too separated from his own emotions to say himself.
This is a ridiculous idea, and so the audience, much like Walt's family, must be eased into it slowly. Smartly, we see The Beaver through the eyes of the innocent Henry, his youngest son, who is eager to have his father acting like himself again even if it's through a puppet. As Walt slowly works his way back into his family's life, the questions start to arise about whether he'll ever be able to truly be himself again. Is Walt as everyone knew him completely gone?
There are two stories being told here, both of differing tones. There's the main story of Walt's breakdown and attempts to cope, and then there's a parallel story of Porter's flowering relationship with Norah(Jennifer Lawrence), the school valedictorian. Jodie Foster, who hasn't directed a film since 1995's Home for the Holidays, balances the shifting tones with a veteran hand. She's only been behind the camera for three movies but you'd never know it. This could not have been an easy film to figure out. The early scenes are packed with a lot of uncomfortable humor as everyone tries to figure out what the heck Walt is doing with a stuffed animal on his hand. Go too far down the comedy route and the bleaker stuff later on would never be able to fly. Foster balances these elements perfectly. She's equally on point in front of the camera, as you'd expect. Yelchin and Lawrence are solid as well, good enough that the story of their characters' relationship would make for a totally separate movie worth your money.
The real story here is Gibson, who gives what I think is the best performance of his career. We can argue all day about whether his own personal demons were a factor, but I haven't seen him plum this level of emotion before. There are scenes where you wonder just how cognizant Walt is about what he's doing, where the puppet seems to literally take over, and the looks on Gibson's face will bring you to tears. It's almost like he's ashamed to be so weak, yet so incapable of doing anything about it. A part of me is pissed that the film is coming out in May, because we'll have all forgotten how good Gibson is when awards season rolls around.
My only beef with the film is that it ends way too easily for my taste. The depths of despair Walt was experiencing won't be fixed by a single act, no matter how extreme that act may be. I won't spoil it, of course, but it's pretty drastic. If there's a point that was trying to be made about depression then it flew over my head. The stark portrayal of the condition was intense enough.
Whether or not The Beaver makes people look at Mel Gibson in a new light doesn't really matter to me. I care about the man's talent, and what I see is an actor who may have lost his way at home but he's simply never been better in front of the camera.
Trav's Tip: Some have speculated the Mel Gibson is actually lip synching the thick Cockney accent used for The Beaver, and that the voice is really that of his Edge of Darkness star, Ray Winstone. That's not the case, and the voice you hear is that of Gibson, who honed it until he was sure it was absolutely perfect.
