Infinitely Polar Bear

'INFINITELY POLAR BEAR': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A comedy-drama flick, about a bipolar dad, struggling to raise his two young daughters; while his wife tries to support their family, in business school. The film was written and directed by Maya Forbes; and it's based on her own life experiences (as a young girl, with a bipolar father). The movie stars Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky and Ashley Aufderheide. It's an interesting, and well made film study; on mental illness, and how it effects loved ones.

The story takes place in late 1970s Boston. Cameron Stuart (Ruffalo) is married to Maggie; and they have two young daughters together, Amelia (Wolodarsky) and Faith (Aufderheide). When Cameron has a bipolar breakdown, he's fired from his job and put in a mental hospital. Maggie moves their daughters into a cheap apartment, in a poor part of town. When Cameron is released from the hospital, Maggie asks him to take care of their kids; while she goes to business school, in New York full time. Cameron agrees, and then struggles to maintain his sanity; while also trying to be a good father.

The film is a great examination of bipolar disease; and how mental illness effects family. Ruffalo is exceptional in the lead, and the two young girls are outstanding (as well); especially Wolodarsky, playing Forbes (as a young girl). Forbes' script is clever, and very thoughtful. Her direction is decent, but not anything too memorable. Still, it's a pretty impressive directorial debut.

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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!

Maya Forbes writes and directs a personal story of bittersweet childhood living in livid conditions with her sister, mother and eccentric bipolar father. A landmark first feature that has enough laughs but loads of conflicting emotions.

Zoe Saldana is a strong presence with her loving/loathing/longing and everything in between character. The ideal mother of her time and circumstances and the wife a man would fight for.

Mark Ruffalo is at the centre of it all with his charming, childlike and exuberant portrayal. He masters the manic episodes, the frailty, the fears, the hopes, the joys and the underlying deep love for his wife and kids.

The kids, one played by Maya Forbes's own daughter, are really adorable and act at a very high calibre. Creative, funny, aware and awkwardly accepting their weird family antics with a touch of rebellion.

Ultimately most of the credit is due to Maya's inventing and passionate storytelling in its form, content, message and lasting meaning. A film that is very human and difficult, but finds glimpse of beauty in little things that we should all hold dear.

An easy but complex crowd-pleaser with much meat and mastery for the critics and film aficionados.

Living with a bipolar father proves difficult for two young girls when their mother has to move away to study in this comedy-drama blend set in the 1970s. The title comes from the youngest daughter misnaming her father's condition as "polar bear" - thematically relevant as the overall film is about the two girls learning to accept their father's behaviour beyond their own preconceptions, appreciating what he does do well. From such a description, the film might sound overly sweet, and in a way it is, only ever seeming to skim the surface, focusing only on how embarrassed the girls are by their father's inability to integrate into society. There are a couple of moments in which the girls genuinely seem afraid of what their father might do, but the film never tugs at the full experience of living with someone with mental issues; as others have said, Mark Ruffalo comes off as more an everyday eccentric than a manic depressive. That said, Ruffalo's performance is the film's best asset, frequently communicating a genuine interest to bond with his daughters and care for them in small, subtle ways. His facial expressions and movements convey more than his dialogue and it is easy to feel for his frustration at not being able to be everything that his daughters want. It is much harder to reconcile the film's blanket negative attitude to the US public school system throughout, but it does act as an acceptable symbol of all that the girls' parents are worried about, and the film does offer an acute portrait of parents doing what they can for their offspring, even if it falls short in other areas.

'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