Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.
The Beaver is a genuinely singular film — a serious, unflinching examination of depression through the absurdist device of a man who conducts his entire life through a beaver hand puppet. Mel Gibson delivers a raw, committed performance that many consider career-best, fully selling the tragicomic conceit, while Jodie Foster (also directing) and Anton Yelchin provide strong support. The film's conception is bracingly original and unmistakably itself — no other film occupies this tonal space quite the same way. However, the plotting strains under the weight of its ambition, with the parallel teen subplot feeling underdeveloped and the resolution rushed and unsatisfying. The cinematography is functional but unremarkable. The ending deflates the film's tension with a jarring, somewhat schematic resolution that doesn't fully earn its emotional payoff.