INFINITELY POLAR BEAR – written and directed by Maya Forbes
When you take two stars that are partly known for superhero roles and you push them into being raw and real in the new movie INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, the results are fantastic. And when you realize the story is driven by the real experiences of the Writer and Director, you really feel the impact.
Cameron (Mark Ruffalo) plays a manic-depressive husband and father who reaches a breaking point and is taken away for treatment. Once on his feet, he transitions to a halfway house and begins to work his way back to his wife Maggie (Zoe Saldana) and his two daughters, Amelia (Imogene Woladarsky) and Faith (Ashley Aufderheide). But Maggie has bigger plans to move forward with her own life and her own career in an era when that was confusing.
This may be Mark Ruffalo at his very best. He shows range that tames even his incredible performance in FOXCATCHER.
The young stars, Woladarsky and Aufderheide, are incredible. I can’t wait to see more from these kids!
And Zoe Saldana is fantastic: beautiful, bold, determined and surprising. I forgot it was her on-screen during the entire movie. That means something to me.
The story of this journey delivers excitement, through the manic, and darkness, in the depressive. It reveals the pain too many families face, balanced with the hope of treatment, recovery and real love. It shows the realities of something we’re just now beginning to understand, but in a decade past. It hurts. And it makes you laugh.
While I can’t say the ending of INFINITELY POLAR BEAR felt right—at the right time in the script—I can ignore that grudge. I left feeling challenged, but hopeful; hurting, but happy.
INFINITELY POLAR BEAR won’t be a blockbuster. It’s not being marketed that way. But it deserves an audience. And its actors deserve a lot of recognition.
