Review of The Beaver (2011) by Nadia V — 18 Feb 2013

So there's a key theme to the criticisms of this movie- it's contrived, non-genuine, insincere specifically because of it's depiction of depression. And you know what, I agree with all of that but I also disagree just as strongly.

Depression is a complex issue and more importantly, it's an individual issue that hits different individuals in different ways. This film is simply one depiction formed around a film. Sadly, this depiction seems to be why people dislike the film as opposed to any other aspect of it. I feel that because depression is such a serious issue this movie has been punished for interpreting it in an arguably non-serious way, in an overly simplistic way and in a manufactured way.

This bothers me not because it is untrue after all, the guy speaks to a puppet beaver- not so serious.

His depression seems to amount to needing to sleep a lot and being suicidal and apparently he can completely hide it by taking on another character and on top of that his son's issues are expressed through him literally banging his head against a wall- this is an overly-simplistic image of depression and self harm.

The movie goes on to use a formula used many times before, to be fairly unoriginal despite the unique premises- there are certainly manufactured elements.

But despite these things being true, it shouldn't take anything away from the film because it's what films do- giving an accurate description of serious mental health issues as well as creating an entertaining piece of work that has the tone you desire and fitting it all into a ninety-minute piece- good luck, it needs to be somewhat simplistic. Getting various points across in a way that is clear to the viewer regardless of their own personal experiences with depression- it needs to be somewhat manufactured. To make a film about mental health and it's effect on whole families without trying to drive any viewers into depression themselves- it needs to have some release from the seriousness.

I accept that these elements could have been improved, fine-tuned or treated with a bit more finesse at times- it's far from a perfect film but it's still unfair to subjugate it because of it's own interpretation of depression- it's not a health video or a documentary or based on someone's memoirs or anything like that- it's a film with a character who suffers from the kind of depression the film shows, however realistic it may be is fairly irrelevant- the film should be judged on how the character develops and how the audience connects with the themes.

With that cleared up I can give my thoughts on the film more directly- I found the tone to be pitched perfectly- it was serious when it should have been and light-hearted when it should have been. I found it funny from time to time and I feel that the film was looking for that to be the case. It was never funny when it shouldn't have been and it was never overly-funny, this isn't a comedy, it's a serious film with a wacky and unique element to it- a beaver. It's a fragile line, I accept, there's only so much you can do with a serious story when the main crux of it is a beaver puppet that sounds like Michael Caine. I think this fragility fits with the film though, it's not supposed to be easy or comfortable, it should have a spark to it and it does.

I loved Gibson's performance and Foster's too though no one else really stuck out for me. I thought the script was somewhat cliché but the main premise is still so refreshing and interesting that it can all be forgiven.

The pacing is a little off and some things are wrapped up rather unnaturally- they needed to stew a little more and pushing the film closer to the 2 hour mark would have been wise.

I suppose the most important thing is that I connected with it and found it's issues to be similar to those in my own life. Obviously this won't be the case with everyone but this film does place it's bets on the audience having that connection with it. I rather enjoyed seeing issues deeply personal to me being conveyed in such a strange way without trying get some point across. It's a traditional-format film, it's simply a story about a person and the people around them, there doesn't need to be an overall point to this one, it's about how the audience follows the journey and whether the journey is a convincing one- if they take something else from it then that's a bonus.

I think it's a good script with some particularly well-done moments and I think everything pretty much came together here that needed to come together. Some extra care and attention would have fixed the issues that put this film down- it felt like there was a need to follow the formula here, to play safe, possibly to make up for the strange plot points but I feel this was a mistake. No shortcuts should have been taken here- there was enough for this to be a truly great film if it had just been handled with a little more care. It's still a success though, tainted slightly by the thought of what could have been but what's already there is a heartfelt, charming and touching film and that's pretty great as is.