The Beaver (2011)
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Duration: 91 minuten
Country:
United States / United Arab Emirates
Directed by: Jodie Foster
Stars: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and Anton Yelchin
IMDb score:
6,6 (51.465)
Releasedate: 5 May 2011
The Beaver plot
"He's here to save Walter's life."
Walter Black (Mel Gibson) suffers from extreme depression. He sleeps a lot, tries various forms of self-therapy and in the meantime sees his wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) hide behind her work as much as possible, watch helplessly as he falls and eventually even decides to kick him out of the house. Walter decides to drink himself completely and then commit suicide. The suicide attempt fails and when Walter wakes up he sees two plastic eyes, a big tail and a wide grin lying among the rubbish. A beaver! From that moment on, Walter walks with the beaver doll in his hand 24 hours a day, only to communicate through the doll and treat it as a living being. Walter returns home and surprisingly everything seems to be getting better between him, his wife and the kids. Until the beaver seems to take complete control of Walter's life...
Actors and actresses
Walter Black
Meredith Black
Norah
Porter Black
Jared
Henry Black
Norah's Mom
Vice President
Volunteer Dad
Skeptical Man
Reviews & comments
Karl van H.
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- 2808 messages
- 2195 votes
The premise of The Beaver is hilarious, but what's even funnier is the movie itself. At least on a meta level, because there are so many cliches accompanied by violin orchestras that it becomes embarrassing: Mel Gibson with a beaver on the cover of Time Magazine, his son's love interest who of course hides her artistic talent, who horribly profound graduation speech... It's laughable to death, but only because it's so wrong that it's incomprehensible that the whole thing is told with so little intentional humor. Moreover, even if this would work without humor, the whole thing is not worked out enough in just an hour and a half to involve you with the characters. This is a Hollywood drama (in the double sense of the word) that doesn't seem to realize how much a serious approach to this absurd premise makes the whole thing a corny mess.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Baboesjka
-
- 891 messages
- 1692 votes
I think it's a special movie. I find the theme of depression interesting and the use of the beaver is a nice, original find. It looked very nice, I got into it easily and the cast plays well. Nice that Jodie Foster not only directed the film, but also starred in it. I find the image beautifully clear and in terms of colors matching the gloomy tone. I'm very impressed! 4.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
IH88
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- 9438 messages
- 3155 votes
“This is a picture of Walter Black, who had to become The Beaver, who had to become a father, so that one day this might just become a picture of Walter Black.”
Weird but also beautiful movie. The Beaver has a very curious premise with a man who fights his depression by only communicating through a beaver hand puppet. Also to his wife and children. In the beginning it goes well and it sometimes seems like a light-hearted romcom, but the atmosphere quickly changes.
Mainly by Foster and Yelchin, who play Walter's wife/son. Gibson seems to have been born to play these strange roles, but luckily he also makes sure that Walter doesn't become a caricature. This is also due to Foster's steadfast directing. Yelchin and Lawrence have a nice chemistry (see also Like Crazy), and it's nice to see Lawrence again playing these kind of small but powerful roles. Norah's subplot around the processing of the loss of her brother is also very well fleshed out.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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