Synopsis
The Beaver (2011) is a drama directed by Jodie Foster, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Walter Black, who runs a failing toy company, has sunk so deep into depression he can barely face his own family. His way out is a battered beaver hand puppet that starts speaking for him in a chirpy Cockney voice.
Mel Gibson plays a man split in two. The puppet handles the jokes, the charm and the business pitches; Walter himself hides somewhere behind it. His wife Meredith (Foster) is relieved to see a spark again, until the act stops being temporary. Their teenage son Porter (Anton Yelchin) keeps a running list of habits he shares with his dad so he can erase each one. A young Jennifer Lawrence turns up as Porter's classmate.
Foster directs an odd, prickly film about how hard it is to come back to the people who love you when there's nothing left inside. It lurches between dark comedy and real despair, and it lives or dies on Gibson's raw, uncomfortable lead turn. Pick it up if you like movies that refuse one tidy genre. Stream The Beaver (2011) online on iFILM.
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