Brilliant and touching

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

I thought this was a very deep and meaningful film, Mel Gibson is a great actor and has shown in such films as The Conspiracy Theory that he is great at these sort of films.Here's the story as I saw it; Walter Black was chronically depressed having estranged himself from family, friends and his business. He had tried all kinds of help with no success, so he finally hits bottom and attempts to commit suicide, which only results in him knocking himself unconscious.His sub-conscious then takes over, giving itself a voice through the medium of a hand puppet. His sub-conscious (aka the Beaver) helps to guide Walter back to his family and friends and rejuvenates his business. But that is not enough to save him, so it starts to push Walter away from his family again, taking him further than before.This is genius thinking, having shown Walter a life with his family and a successful business his sub-conscious is now taking it away from him; this act forces Walters mind to snap back in order to fight for the life he desired.Then as a final sign that he was truly back in control, Walter literally severs his sub-conscious from its control of him by cutting off the arm holding the hand puppet.And I thought the side story of his eldest son was an excellent addition, showing what effect Walters actions were having on those closest to him.

This is as weird as I thought it would be.Puppet Therapy is never this extensive. In addition to the obvious fact that it is used with children. I only decided to watch it because I am watching all of Miss Lawrence's films (as always, she performed gloriously, portraying a troubled high school valedictorian).Has anyone else noticed how much Foster looks like Hunt? Enough for me to be thinking about "What Women Want" for a significant part of the film.I will say, though, that Mel Gibson did manage an impressive rendition of the clinically depressed. (Attribute his personal life details here.) There were also a few memorable quotes. "This is a picture of Walter Black, a hopelessly depressed individual. Somewhere inside him is a man who fell in love. Who started a family. Who ran a successful company. That man has gone missing. No matter what he's tried, and he's tried everything, Walter can't seem to bring him back. It's as if he's died, but hasn't had the good sense to take his body with him. So mostly what he does is sleep." (I know how he feels.) "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." (I love how The Beaver narrates the opening lines, but, by the closing lines, Walter has regained himself and is the one doing the narrating.) "Today I'm here to warn you, that you are being lied to. Our parents, our teachers, our doctors, have lied to us. And it's the exact same lie. The same six words, 'Everything is going to be okay'. What if it isn't? What if some of human experience is just something you inherit, like curly hair and blue eyes? What if pain is just in your DNA, and tragedy is your birthright? Or what if, sometimes, right out of the blue, when you least expect it, something changes?" "I'm not okay, not at all. What do I do with that? What do any of us do? Besides lie. This is what I believe, right now there is someone who is with you, someone who is willing to pick you up, dust you off, kiss you, forgive you, put up with you, wait for you, carry you, love you. So while everything may not be okay, one thing I know is true, you do not have to be alone." "We reach a point where, in order to go on, we have to wipe the slate clean. We start to see ourselves as a box that we're trapped inside and no matter how we try and escape, self help, therapy, drugs, we just sink further and further down. The only way to truly break out of the box is to get rid of it all together. I mean, you built it in the first place. If the people around you are breaking your spirit, who needs them? Your wife who pretends to love you, your son who can't even stand you. I mean, put them out of their misery. Starting over isn't crazy. Crazy is being miserable and walking around half asleep, numb, day after day after day. Crazy is pretending to be happy. Pretending that the way things are is the way they have to be for the rest of your bleeding life. All the potential, hope, all that joy, feeling, all that passion that life has sucked out of you. Reach out, grab a hold of it, and take it back." "Funny. I think it is a mess (her graffiti art), but you think it is amazing. I think you are amazing, but you think you are a mess." **** Spoilers **** I understand the idea, the personification, the fact that he has a mental illness. But making The Beaver come alive, having some sort of psychotic episode, then trying to saw off his hand crossed some sort of line. It is not that I do not empathize. I assure you that I have seen my share of real life psychotic episodes; that scene in particular seemed unrealistic to me. I am not sure whether or not it has to do with the fact that it was Mel Gibson.

This film tries to be a masterpiece, failing on the way due to it's over pretentiousness and overall boring execution of the film. It's nothing short of plain torture for the viewer. It's slow pace and confronting themes don't make for an enjoyable ride. Though quirky, and I give it props for that, nothing that this film tries to do makes the adventure worth the time to watch it. Whilst Mel Gibson does his best to play the character, you can't help but feel you are going through the suicidal thoughts that he is when investing yourself in this film.Nothing short of pure boredom. It's story is bleak and slow, whilst the depressing nature of the film makes you feel depressed watching it. Something to consider if you have nothing else to watch, but otherwise give this one a miss.

Another old(er) movie that was sadly eclipsed due to the very public antics of its (now) pariah like celebrity star, Mel Gibson. A veritable directorial achievement (Jodie Foster, after 'Little man Tate'), this is an engaging drama from beginning-to- end, and doesn't quite let go.Quite possibly some of the darkest thematic material ever put on celluloid. And one of the most courageous. Both in terms of the choices inherent in the material, and quite possibly the director following the vision laid out in the screenplay, without making the compromises that studio heads are prone to doing, and prevailing, at that.Difficult to watch for most of its running time, borrowing its motif from one of my favorite classics 'Harvey' (and kinda uniquely 'extending' it, not just to fit this milieu, but also to to help it find its own voice out there), this has many things going for it, including its casting, esp. Anton Yelchin.One more strength, I felt, lay in its narrative, that doesn't spend much time on context/back-story and simply dives into the main conceit of it all, as it were. The timing when Foster chose to cast Gibson in this one, and Gibson himself agreeing to take on the main role (with both Steve Carell and Jim Carrey electing to give this one a miss), foibles and all, is unique, though it didn't do anything for its box-office. Definitely deserved to be seen when it came out, and deserving of its audience anyway, this one hopefully will find its cult following sometime (counting on that, since this deserves an audience).