THE BEAVER (Carlton) – I didn’t really want to see this at first, as it meant giving money indirectly into the Mel Gibson Crazy Machine. He’s in the same box with Jim Carrey and Tom Cruise for me; watch with caution. Ticket guy at the theatre reassured me; “don’t think of it as supporting Mel Gibson’s acting – think about it as supporting Jodie Foster’s directing.” Guilt for possibly enabling Mel’s anti-Semitic nutbaggery assuaged.
Damn it if Mel Gibson can’t act – he plays sane, he plays crazy… I’m not sure by about half way if the puppet isn’t actually a parasitic organism; that maybe Walter Black was just depressed, but not actually insane. Maybe that’s why The Beaver was in the trash in the first place… maybe someone else escaped its clutches?
My only real complaint might be with the performance by Jennifer Lawrence – she was great in WINTER’S BONE, and I was expecting something similar. Instead, I find her performance starts out feeling wooden and unnatural. By about the half-way point she seemed to be more comfortable in her character, thankfully.
Oh, and the continuity in the graffiti on the warehouse wall… There’s at least three different versions of the crossed-out graffiti that I noticed. Someone in continuity needs to invest in a digital camera.
