Is it possible to write a review about “The Beaver” without getting into Mel Gibson’s troubles? The things he’s done recently get more press than his career as a whole. Well I don’t know but I’m going to try.

Jodie Foster’s first directorial effort since “Home For The Holidays” starts off with Gibson as Walter Black laying on an inflatable cushion in his pool, looking lifeless as if any direction he’s had in life has been rendered non-existent. We quickly learn that Walter’s the CEO of a toy company, that he has a beautiful wife and two sons, and that he is severely depressed. We are coming to him at the point where he has been in this state of mental illness for some time, and it’s gotten to where his wife Meredith doesn’t want him living at home any more and his kids just don’t know what to make of him.

After a failed suicide attempt, he is brought back to the living through a hand puppet of a beaver which develops a life of its own after he puts it on his hand. With a Michael Caine cockney-like accent, the beaver tells him he’s going to save Walter life. Sure enough, his life gets better very quickly as the beaver begins doing all the talking for him and takes over his life. But as time goes on, this hand puppet threatens to make Walter Black hit rock bottom with no way of coming back.

“The Beaver” is a black comedy that gets blacker as it rolls along. The trailers have made it look like a light affair, but that is most certainly not the case. It does have its lighter moments, but it is a serious examination of depression. It’s an important issue because it is not something you can just blow over regardless of what others will tell you. Depression can seriously debilitate you and deeply affect those who love you the most, but not many fully understand this. The idea that you have to go through life and take the punches that come with it can only go so far.

As Walter Black, Mel Gibson reminds us what a great actor he can be. Aside from his work as a director which really has been remarkable, it’s easy to forget how great a presence he can be onscreen. Mel captures Walter’s emotional downfall in a way few actors could, and he makes you care about this character even as he heads further downhill emotionally. It’s a brave performance that doesn’t hold anything back, and you have to admire the lengths Gibson goes here.

Jodie remains an excellent actress as always, and she’s an incredibly beautiful one to boot. Seeing her acting alongside good friend Mel is a treat as they were such a kick together in “Maverick.” She makes Meredith Black a strong willed person who holds it together even as Walter’s actions keep testing her sanity. The complexity she gives Meredith makes Foster’s work all the more fascinating to watch, and you sympathize with her plight throughout.

It’s a shame that it took Jodie 16 years to direct another movie. Her past efforts of “Little Man Tate” and “Home For The Holidays” showed a great eye for characters that are isolated from others because of who they are and what they are going through. Her work on “The Beaver” is especially commendable in that it is not an easy script to direct. Finding the balance between the comedy and drama makes this challenging even for the best directors working today. Jodie manages to pull it off like the pro she is, and she shows incredible sensitivity to the subject matter of depression. For me, this is one of the best movies on mental illness which hasn’t been covered as much recently.

The screenplay by Kyle Killen topped the 2008 Blacklist, a ranking of the best unproduced screenplays. I can see why; it features wonderful characters that are exceptionally down to earth, and the dialogue feels fresh and without any abundance of clichés. Many will find the premise of a man working through mental illness with the aid of a hand puppet to be far fetched and unbelievable. But his script really takes some chances and (with the help of Foster as director) makes you believe that something like this seem not all that improbable.

Besides, is it really that far fetched for an adult to play around with puppets or stuffed animals? Look at these names: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Ben Kenber, all these men have become well known for performing with puppets to the joy of many. Yes, I did put my name up there because I still have a love for stuffed animals which I bring to my job regardless of people’s bewilderment to that. People may think it strange, but I like that it sets me apart from the rest of the crowd.

In addition, there are other wonderful performances to be found here. Anton Yelchin, having done memorable work in “Star Trek” and “Terminator Salvation,” is excellent as the Black’s oldest son Porter. Throughout, he is terrified of becoming like his dad and implores his mother to divorce him. Yelchin makes what could have been a major brat into a fascinating person whose endeavors in doing the homework for others have become quite a cash cow for him. His relationship with his father never feels contrived, so when we get to the end of the film, the climax feels truly earned.

I also really liked Jennifer Lawrence as Norah, the popular valedictorian cheerleader who hires Porter to write her graduation speech. Still riding high on the acclaim she received for “Winter’s Bone,” her character is anything but a cliché. She surprises us as much as she does Porter with a strong intelligence and a completely welcome lack of snobbery for a popular high school student. Norah also hides a pain deep inside which defines her character’s state of mind and presents her with something to overcome. Jennifer is great to watch here, and I’m sure she has more great work ahead of her.

Congrats also goes out to young Riley Thomas Stewart who portrays the Black’s youngest son Henry. It’s a remarkable performance for an 8 or 9 year old as he has to convey both the confusion and effect his dad’s depression has on him. The scenes he shares with Foster and especially Gibson are wonderfully realized, and it helps that he has a former child actor directing him who knows how to coax a performance out of a young boy.

Watching “The Beaver” reminded me of one of my favorite movies from a few years ago, “Lars And The Real Girl.” Both films had characters whose pasts damaged them emotionally and who seek release through unorthodox methods. With Gibson it’s a hand puppet, and with Ryan Gosling it’s a sex doll he treats as his new girlfriend. Each takes what seems like a completely implausible story and surprises us by making it more than some average comedy that just dumbs down everything. They have very down to earth characters, and we are deeply affected by what they go through.

I hope people give “The Beaver” a chance. Regardless of how you feel about Mel Gibson, it’s an incredibly well made movie that takes a great script and visualizes it with respect and empathy. With it already been declared a “flop” after its first week in limited release, people are already slamming nails into its coffin. Frankly that annoys me because it sounds like many were prepared not to even give it a chance. Compared to what’s out there right now, it is far more original than most other movies. While it may not be for everyone, those in the mood for unique cinema should find much to admire here.

By the way, I love how Jodie got Teri Gross of “Fresh Air” fame to do a cameo. I always wondered what her studio at WHYY in Philadelphia looked like (assuming that is the same one featured in the movie).

* * * * out of * * * *

Last night in Santa Monica was the start of “Escape Artist: A Tribute to John Carpenter” at the Aero Theater. In addition to being treated to a double feature of “The Thing” (widely regarded as Carpenter’s best film to date) and “The Fog,” the writer/director/composer also showed up in between the screenings of both films to give us more insight on the films, and took questions from the audience. Even though these movies are 20 to 30 years old now and have been available on DVD for quite some time, they still resonate deeply for movie fans all these years later. This was proven true by the fact that the screenings were sold out and packed with biggest of all John Carpenter fans.

The show started off with the emcee announcing to the crowd:

“Are you ready to view the new M. Night Shyamalan movie “The Happening?” That’s right, you thought you were here to see some John Carpenter movies, but this is all part of the Shyamalan twist!”

Of course, he was just kidding as he knew the crowd was about to partake in the “Citizen Kane of horror movies” with his 1982 remake of “The Thing.” The emcee indicated that the print they had for tonight’s showing was the best they could find and that the film itself has faded a bit and did have scratches here and there, but that never took away from the enthusiastic response of the crowd as the lights went down, and the credits came up to thunderous applause every time Carpenter’s name came up. A few other names got applause as well like Kurt Russell and Dean Cundey among others.

John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is 7th on my list of my top ten all time favorite movies, and it remains to date the best horror film remake ever. That’s an especially high mark in cinema considering that today’s film market is overflowing with horror remakes, most of them being sacrilegious crap. While the movie was not a big hit when it was first released, it has since developed a huge cult following thanks to home video and DVD and has finally been recognized as the masterpiece it has always been. 80% of the audience there that evening has probably seen this movie at least several dozen times, but even if they have lines memorized and know everything that happens, they still jumped in surprise during the movie’s most shocking moments.

After the movie ended and the end credits were all finished, John Carpenter was brought out into the audience and was met with a standing ovation and thunderous applause from all those who came out to see him. Once the audience sat down, he immediately thanked them for coming on out to see this movie when they could have just watched it at home. One fan in turn thanked him for coming on out to visit with us as he has millions of fans all over the world, and yet he chose to hang out with us.

Today, as the emcee pointed out, many are surprised to hear that “The Thing” was not a big hit when it was first released back in 1982. Carpenter put it all the more bluntly:

“It tanked! 1982 was supposed to be the summer of love. It was the summer of “E.T.,” and it was the summer of freedom and hope, and “The Thing” was about as bleak a movie as any that could have been released that year. People hated it for that, and all the sci-fi fans out there absolutely hated it and trashed it when it first came out.”

As Carpenter pointed out to actor and friend Kurt Russell on the DVD commentary of the movie:

“We came out two weeks after “E.T.” And while there’s was all warm and cuddly, ours was ugly and hideous.”

Universal Pictures, which released both movies that summer, attempted to make it the summer of the extra terrestrials, but the timing did not work at all in Carpenter’s favor, and it later cost him the job of directing a Stephen King adaptation, “Firestarter.”

One fan pointed out that this film was unique in a sense in that this is one of the few John Carpenter’s that he did not compose the score for himself. While it does indeed have that Carpenter sound that we have come to recognize in his movies, the score was actually composed by Ennio Morricone. Carpenter replied that Morricone is one of the greatest composers of ever in film, and this was met with loud applause from the audience. John did point out that there is one synthesizer piece of music played in the music that was not composed by Ennio. Now he wouldn’t say who did it, but for those of you who did see the movie, I’m sure we can all say who it was.

Someone asked if it was possible for John to talk the powers that be in to getting the soundtrack to “The Thing” re-released, as it has been out of print now for several years. John replied that unfortunately he has no juice with the powers that be, so it looks like fans everywhere will still have to shell out an obscene amount of money in collector’s market to get the Varese Sarabande release at conventions or online.

Another guy in the audience pointed out that several of his movies have been remade such as “Assault on Precinct 13,” “The Fog,” and “Halloween,” and that a remake of “Escape From New York” is in the works. This guy said he found these remakes blasphemous, and he asked John how he felt about them. John replied:

“I actually find it flattering. They also have to pay me a lot of money when they do that!”

Dean Cundey, director of photography on “The Thing,” has worked on several of Carpenter’s movies including the all time classic “Halloween.” John has actually not worked with Cundey for a long time now, and one man asked why that was the case, and if there had been some falling out between the two of them. Carpenter replied that there has been no falling out between the two of them, and that he recently caught up with Dean at a movie shoot in Canada. John did however point out why they haven’t worked together in a long time:

“Dean wanted to be a director. And when you have a director on a movie, and a director of photography who wants to be a director, that’s just not gonna work out.”

Everyone who knows John Carpenter knows that he himself is a big fan of westerns, and he recently recorded a commentary track for the special edition DVD release of the John Wayne classic, “Rio Bravo.” Many wonder why he has never get around to doing a western of his own. John replied that he honestly didn’t know, but that he did come close several times. The closest he said that he had ever come to doing one was when he wrote the script for “El Diablo” which was made into a cable movie (he won a Cable Ace Award for his script that year). If you look closely at his film work, all of his movies do have western elements to them. The closest he has ever gotten to making a western is arguably “Vampires” with James Woods.

Carpenter also made it official that “Masters Of Horror,” the Showtime network’s original anthology series, is now dead. John directed two of the series’ best episodes with “Cigarette Burns” and “Pro-Life,” and he said that the show has now turned into an NBC show called “Fear Itself” which is being worked on by the same people. While this incarnation of the horror anthology series may open itself up to a bigger audience than it found on cable, Carpenter said that there is not much to be feared about it.

John Carpenter has not actually directed a full length feature film since “Ghosts of Mars” which came out back in 2001. Many are wondering, and it was asked, what future projects he has on tap, and of what his current passions are. His reply:

“Current passions? I’m playing Ninja Gaiden, I just got Metal Gear Solid 4 for Playstation 3… No seriously, I have a couple of things I’m looking at doing, so we’ll see what happens.”

Before he left, he did have some things to say about “The Fog” which start showing a few minutes later:

“I have heard that the print for this movie is not in the greatest shape, and that it is pretty faded. But keep in mind that when we made this movie, we made it for only $1 million dollars… So, please be kind.”

Rising again to a big standing ovation, John thanked everyone again for coming and strode out of the theater. He did however stick around outside of the theater for a bit to take pictures with the fans and sign autographs. I’ve seen John do many different showings of his movies, and of him talking with the audience after the movie ended. With this one, he seemed to enjoy himself a lot more than he usually does. I can imagine that he gets sick at times of talking about the same movies over and over again, and he has probably discussed them to death in different arenas, but he still shows up to meet with the fans. You have to figure that he has had the last laugh on the critics and audiences who tore his movies apart when they first opened years ago. Many of his movies were way ahead of their time, but people eventually did catch on to his work, and they love it just like they should have in the beginning.

John Carpenter will be back tonight for a double feature of “Escape From New York” and the vastly underappreciated “Escape From LA.” Hopefully, we’ll see John make another big screen film at some point again in the future.

Written by Ben Kenber

Writer/Director: Simon Rumley

DVD Release Date: 3/25/08

The Brocklebank family (father Donald, mother Nancy and son James) live in a huge manor that is in ruins. Both the family and the manor are on the brink of falling apart. They are near bankrupt and the mother is bedridden by a sudden illness. The son is an adult child with serious mental deficiencies. Now Donald must leave for London to help save the family from losing their estate. So he calls on Nancy's caregiver Nurse Mary. But James won't have any of that. He's convinced himself that he is the man of the house now and can take care of himself and his ailing mother. So after his father leaves, he locks the nurse out and takes it upon himself to play nursemaid. (READ MORE)