Lets get this straight, this movie is depressing. Why? Because it is about depression. The plague of roughly 10% of the American population, conservatively speaking. And yet this is a topic that Hollywood keeps away from with a twenty foot pole. And again why? Probably for no other reason that they think that no one will want to see a depressing movie. And you know what, they are right. This movie was a HUGE commercial flop, not helped by Mels off screen issues. And I have to say Foster probably new she was on the losing side of this gamble. But that said, the movie turns out to surprise and ultimately nail the 800 pound gorilla of depression. Nobody wants to talk about it, much less make a film about it. However the millions and millions of people that live with some degree of functional depression - the kind where you are not institutionalized or trying to find the medicated silver bullet, but you are just living your life - have to be able to relate to the story that is told here. If you believe the lie that we are all told (that is touched upon in the movie), that "everything will be OK", then you have never suffered the pain of depression, or of irreplaceable loss. This movie paints this in a very real, albeit over-the-top, way. In the end there is no silver bullet to curing oneself of depression, it can be a long, sometimes permanent road. Foster prescribes her character with the most unusual sort of medication in the Beaver, and that why the movie suffered: it was too much. The mass market could not buy it, and saw it as a fumbled attempt at a rough subject. I wholeheartedly disagree. I think Fosters directing and Gibsons acting - coupled with a great subplot led by a superb bit of acting by Yelchin - made this film believable, and ultimately a memorable and solid movie. Most of the movie viewing public wont make it through the first half-hour, and I even thought I would have to shut the movie off early on. However, if you give this movie the benefit of the doubt, I think you will not be disappointed. Its not perfect, but how many movies are?
Review of The Beaver
