On the couch

DVD REVIEW

The  Beaver ****
Directed by: Jodie Foster
Starring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence

The Tree of Life ***
Directed by: Terrence Malick
Starring: Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain

The Beaver is a weird movie. Really weird. Not quite David Lynch, Naked Lunch weird but pretty bloody odd nonetheless.

The weirdest thing about it? Not the fact that it’s a dark comedy about a man so psychologically broken he can only communicate with the outside world through a puppet he found in a bin but the fact that it got made at all and who it got made with.
It would be one thing if it were a small, indy flick directed by a film school student with his eye on the big time and starring Joe Schmo, that guy from that ketchup ad, but it’s not. It’s a film about depression, abusive stuffed mammals and the fallout of psychosis on a businessman’s family, work and life starring one of the most successful and notorious names in Hollywood history, an Oscar nominee and one of the most respected actresses of her generation (who also has a few Oscar nominations and wins to her credit).
Mel Gibson – the man who launched almost as many jokes on late night chat shows as he did lawsuits a few years back – plays Walter Black, toy company CEO and a man paralysed by depression.
Kicked out of home by his wife and estranged from his children, Black is on the verge of taking his life when he finds a mangy hand puppet in a dumpster and through some feat of psychological transference, starts to use the puppet to say and do the things he only wishes he could.
Initially this seems to be a good idea. Black’s back as it were. His business prospers, his home life flourishes again and he reclaims the love of his younger son.
This wave of feel-good zaniness doesn’t last long though and the while older son Porter (Anton Yelchin) spends his time trying to erase any trace of his father from his own behaviour and woo alpha cheerleader Norah (Jennifer Lawrence), Walter’s missus Meredith (Jodie Foster) starts to quesiton when her fella’s going to drop the rodent and start acting normal again.
It’s here that the weird really begins as the film’s sweet conceit crashes up on the rocks of the real world with some unnerving consequences.
While it seems a little rushed toward the end, The Beaver is a hard film not to find, at worst, thoroughly interesting. Funny, bittersweet and shocking it serves as a reminder what a quality performer Gibson is, as well showing off Foster’s elegant directorial hand.
Yelchin and Lawrence are excellent in their own right and their sub-plot of burgeoning teen romance could be strong enough to film its own movie.
It might be easier to discount the flick on account of it’s lead but The Beaver must be given its due – it’s a dark, sharply made flick that manages to entertain and uplift without leaving a saccharine taste in the mouth.
The Tree of Life is an extraordinary film. Whether or not that is enough to make you want to watch it, however, is debatable.
Written and directed by Terrence Malick, the enigmatic auteur who emerges from his Fortress of Solitude once every blue moon to deliver a painstakingly crafted and hauntingly beautiful film, it is his most ambitious work to date.
Ostensibly it’s about an architect called Jack (Sean Penn) and his relationships with his parents, played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, one an authoritarian bully, the other a gentle but sometimes insubstantial soul.
The story of his fractious relationship is told in flashbacks to the mid-’60s with the echoes of family dramas being carefully wrought in Penn’s performance as Jack the man.
The Tree of Life, however, aspires to provide more than just some kitchen sink drama. It seems to be designed to reveal Malick’s take on, well, life, the universe and everything as the film’s subject matter veers into the past for some dinosaur action, before zipping to the future to contemplate the end of the world.
It’s heavy stuff that, to a great extent, defies description. It’s stunning to look at and the performances are all of an extraordinarily high standard but the film left me feeling a little dim. Like there’s some level of profundity lingering just outside my inadequate intellectual reach. Or maybe it’s a case of the emperor’s new clothes and auld Terrence is having a great laugh at all the beret-wearing film twonks hailing his master work.
The Tree of Life is a film to be experienced more than enjoyed. If deep thoughts, masterful filmmaking and fragmented storylines are your bag, then this is the movie for you. But if you’re just looking for a bit of brain jam to pass a Saturday night in then you might want to leave this on the shelf with Ulysses and the other items on your intellectual “to-do” list.