Infinitely Polar Bear

This incredible actor is given full reign in a film which capitalizes on his ability to be both sweet and intolerably infantile. I am a fan!

I laughed a lot and I really appreciated insight into the world of bi-polar craziness depicted with an even hand and so much love. It was also a skillful depiction of a chaotic 1970's childhood.

This is the director's first feature film, but she knocked it out of the park. Although I would say that casting Mark Ruffalo as a Boston WASP is improbable, it worked for me. The scenes of his extended family are worth the price of admission alone.

Zoe Saldana makes the move possible as she loves everything about Mark Ruffalo that anyone does. I do not know Mark Ruffalo, but I know that he is smart, good-looking, interesting and an exceptionally warm person. The miracle is that this film-maker can tell the story of a difficult youth without any rancor and with insights which are subtle, heart-breaking and hilarious.

The children in this film give it great authenticity. I vote for them!

Despite being a little too by-the-book and repetitive,"Infinetly Polar Bear" is a pleasing piece of narrative that succeeds thanks to a brilliant portrayal and definition of characters.

As stated above the film isn't that fascinating or riveting of a drama. It hits the same note again and again and does not stray away from it almost anytime. It is generally predictable and the dramatic texture isn't as intense as it wants to be,it kind of hits you very light. Moreover there are situations that are overplayed a little too much in the beginning which gave the movie a hard time at getting started and being believable, yet fortunately it picked up immediately as soon as these couple of scenes ended. So to sum it up, it simply doesn't give the necessary gravitas and intensity (both comedic and dramatic) to the situation for it to be as riveting as a drama as it could have as it could have been and I should add that I think that the cinematography partially contributed to this: it doesn't have enough style or distinction for it to stick out, leaving it in super generic dramatic territory and palette and it has a variety of camera movements that get distracting and aren't integrated well enough in the story. It could have really sparked had their been some distinctive look and approach in my opinion.

Despite all of negatives above, this movie really succeeds in making you care about the characters, sticking with them and ultimately giving you a true emotional link. That is undebatable thanks to very good work from both Saldana and Ruffalo and especially the two girls playing their daughters. But even more than that I believe that in the end it is the script that makes you really care because of how well it defines characters, situations and overall story arch. There maybe not enough originality in storytelling or some non-clarity in the bipolar aspect of the film, but man do the characters stick out and make for a pleasant view and journey, culminating in a finale that got me more than I imagined.

Mark Ruffalo stars in "Infinitely Polar Bear" along with Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky, and Ashley Aufderheide, from 2014, directed by first-time director Maya Forbes. Forbes is a very talented woman I hope to be seeing more from as a director - she's already an established writer and producer.

The story takes place in Boston in the late 1970s, where Cam Stuart (Ruffalo) lives with his wife Maggie (Saldana) and their children, Amelia and Faith.

Cam is bipolar and job problems lead him to a nervous breakdown. He is institutionalized and then moved to a halfway house. Though he comes from a wealthy family, the money is in a trust. Maggie has a tough time making ends meet. She decides to get her MBA and wins a scholarship to Columbia.

Cam is doing okay on lithium and is more on an even keel, so Maggie has him move in with the kids while she goes to New York for eighteen months, returning home on weekends. Her plan is to return to Boston after school and get a good job, which has eluded her thus far.

It's a tough adjustment. The place is in disarray, Cam constantly embarrasses his kids for either being too friendly with the neighbors or hanging out with them and their friends, not to mention driving around in a pathetic car.

What a wonderful movie told with such warmth and humor. The acting is wonderful all around. Both Ruffalo and Saldana are totally likable, and the kids are great - not cloying at all. The title comes from the kids misunderstanding the term "bipolar."

Definitely worth viewing - a wonderful film.

'Infinitely Polar Bear' is a very charming Comedic Drama that focuses on Cameron, a manic-depressive father who (after his wife leaves to study in New York) is required to support his two daughters on his own. Now this is a very small film that many people would not have heard of but with two big leads in Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana, you know that if anything you are going to get really good performances. This was overall a very dramatic, heartwarming, and at times emotional personal story that does delve into slightly darker tones here and there, as you would expect when it comes to the condition being explored in the film. These darker, more serious and dramatic scenes are made up for with the inclusion of some very well placed comedy that really does work to lighten up the tone and also make you laugh briefly throughout.

The performances in this film were all fantastic, especially Mark Ruffalo and the two children in the film, they just killed it the whole way through. Zoe Saldana did a great job with her role even though she isn't featured as much as Ruffalo and the children and was great to see her acting ability in something smaller than a 'Marvel' blockbuster. Ruffalo did such an incredible job at playing a difficult character with such a complex situation that if there weren't so many other great performances this year he might have snuck in a Best Actor Nom. He was incredibly convincing and portrayed all of the very contrasting elements of this very complex extremely well. He bought in great comedic timing to keep the film light and the way he acted, right down to slight hand movements and facial expressions was great to see how really into this character he was. Seriously there were moments in this film where he didn't even need to say anything, just the look on his face at times told me everything i needed to know about his current state and that shows off his incredible acting talent.

The two child roles could have just been typical, generic, annoying children who were just there to act as a device to further the plot. But holy crap they were both fantastic, and even came close to stealing the limelight from Ruffalo. The roles were played by two unknown children Imogene Wolodarsky, and Ashley Aufderheide, who had no other acting roles prior to this film. Now i'm not gonna be getting too excited about these two because one role doesn't mean you are a super talent, but they do show that they have the ability to act in really dramatic roles. These two roles contribute to much of the emotion of the film and seeing how they react and change throughout the course of the film was very interesting and it was fun just watching their transition over time.

In the end, the overall plot of the film is original and very straight-forward but it is the emotional journey of these characters and their progressive relationships that made this such an enjoyable movie. The very heartwarming and dramatic elements in the film were very fun to watch and i had a smile on my face most of the time, it even almost broke me to tears at one pretty emotional moment. The darker moments really contrast the lighter tones and were very sudden in their placement in the film, but the comedy that Ruffalo brings to the table helps to not get too dark. It was fun journey watching this families relationship and if you like heartwarming, dramatic tales, this is definitely an enjoyable worth your time. - 7.6

"Infinitely Polar Bear" (2014 release; 90 min.) brings the story of Cam Stewart (played by Mark Ruffalo) and his family. As the movie opens, we get a clever montage of 8 mm. footage from 1967 (how Cam and Maggie met in Boston and eventually married) on to the present (i.e. 1978). Cam is a manic depressive and he just got fired (again) on the first day of his latest job. It leads to an outburst and eventually Cam is put away. We then move to "six weeks later', where Cam is in a halfway house. Maggie is desperate to improve their financial situation and decides to do an MBA on a full scholarship at Columbia, leaving Cam to take care of their 2 daughters Amelia and Faith. At this point we're about 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first, this movie is a labor of love from writer-director Maya Forbes (best known for her work on The Larry Sanders Show). She bases the story on her own upbringing and as such the movie is pretty much autobiographical. To make things even more authentic, she cast her 12 yr. old daughter (Imogene Wolodarsky) as her younger self (Amelia). I noticed in the movie's opening credits that J.J. Abrams is one of the executive producers. Second, I don't know to what extent the portrayal of the Cam character is an accurate reflection of being manic-depressive or bi-polar. Yes, there are the highs and the lows, and yes, there is the habit/need to never throw out anything and instead collect like hamsters do, but is that enough? I do not know. But it all looks quite innocent on the big screen, and no 'bad' things happen to anyone in this. Third, the four leading acting performances (Ruffalo, Wolodarsky, Zoey Baldana as Maggie, and Ashley Aufderheide as Faith) are all enjoyable, and the interaction between them feels authentic. Fourth, the movie, set in the late 70s, contains a treasure trove of period cars from the 60s and 70s. Check out the Peugot station wagon Cam has at some point, but that's just one example. Truly a eye candy for car aficionados. Last but not least, there is a terrific soundtrack, including both the original score (by Theodore Shapiro) and a bunch of songs (best of all, George Harrison's Run of the Mill, which plays at the conclusion of the movie and over the closing credits; and also China Forbes (of Pink Martini, and sister of Maya Forbes) bringing an excellent new tune called "The Northern Line", also playing over the closing credits).

This movie made quite a splash at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. No idea why it's taken another 18 months for this to get a national release. "Infinitely Polar Bear" opened some weeks ago at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and apparently is enjoying a good run. The recent early evening screening where I saw this at was attended nicely. If you are in the mood for something that could be quite heavy but in fact is brought with a light touch and a smile never far away, and you want to see something light years away from Hollywood's standard summer fare of action heroes, I might suggest you give this a try, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.