The Beaver isn’t a film for everyone. It’s a bit odd, it’s quite dark and rarely sugarcoats the serious subject matter at hand. With a subtle and unobtrusive hand though, actor-director Jodie Foster has made a sad, hopeful and poignant film about depression and isolation.
In this silly “could have been a whacky Jim Carrey film” premise, Foster and screenwriter Kyle Killen find a true sense of realism. For years Killen’s script has been praised, even being featured on the infamous Black List, but took its time getting off the ground. Once one views the film, they’ll understand why. Killen’s script goes to jarring and realistically disturbing places.
The tone is what Killen and Foster use to unsettle. In one minute, everything is going dandy and it all feels fun. The next minute, the film reverts back to raw drama. These uneven shifts are intended to represent Walker Black’s (Mel Gibson, who delivers a powerfully subtle and invisible performance) state. Walter is depressed. Why? The film hints, but the reason doesn’t matter. He’s got a son that hates him, a disconnected relationship with his wife, the memories of a terrible father and a job that isn’t fulfilling.
After an uncomfortably funny suicide attempt, Walter makes a wonderful discovery: the beaver. Walter finds a roughed-up hand puppet in a garbage bin and almost immediately finds a new identity. The Beaver is Walter’s quick fix. The puppet is his way of dealing with the drama that he cant handle. At first, it’s a little funny. A little while later, it’s a bit sad. And by the end, it’s heart-wrenching.
The ultimate message is that there’s no such thing as a “quick fix.” A Cockney-accented puppet can’t take care of an individual’s problems. How could it? This idea applies to all the characters, who are suffering under some form of depression. Walter’s son, Porter (Anton Yelchin), couldn’t hate his father more. Porter’s worst nightmare is becoming his father, a fear of Walter’s as well.
Porter is someone that doesn’t feel comfortable in his own skin or with his own voice, and Killen gets this message across profoundly. Porter makes cash off writing papers for other students. He’s a pro at communicating in someone else’s voice, but not his own. And, if one wants to further delve into this idea, he uses this gig as a way to understand people, which he cant do with his own father.
Ironically, Walter’s wife Meredith’s (Foster) night job perfectly represents the tone and structure of the film: she designs roller coasters.