Today I have the pleasure of breaking down a movie that virtually no one has even heard one thing about and try and convince you that it’s worth your time. Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana star in Infinitely Polar Bear. I can already hear my father in-law saying “You know Dewey, Mark Ruffalo always brings the goods.” If you think about he would be 100% correct. In the last two years he’s been in – Begin Again, Avengers, Avengers 2, Now You See Me, and Foxcatcher and he’s been terrific in all of them. It’s getting to a point now with Ruffalo that he has to be considered to be one the great American actors on screen today.
Infinitely Polar Bear is the story of family fractured by mental illness. The movie begins with Cam (Mark Ruffalo) in the grips of a manic episode, marching around in his underwear and frightening the girls. The family is shattered and seems to be going in different directions. Cam makes somewhat of a recovery from his manic break. Maggie (Zoe Saldana) decides to take a leap of faith and leave the kids with him while she goes off to business school.
Infinitely Polar Bear is a very hard movie to watch at times. Cam is often just going off on people, and his girls have no trouble letting him know how they feel often in a very loud voice. You do get the feeling that you have a front row seat to a family that is fraying at the seams. It’s a very compelling seat to be in but it doesn’t make it any less easy to witness.
Mark Ruffalo gives a gritty, gutty, and soulful performance as the over the top, foul mouthed Cam Stuart. Mark Ruffalo makes the character of Cam Stuart very human and very real to anyone watching this unfold on the screen. He immerses himself in a role based on director Maya Forbes’s father and his performance is nothing short of triumphant. One has to wonder if this a performance that could finally put him over the top in a lot of award voters’ minds?
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that this movie is going to be easy to find because it won’t be. However, is everything worth seeing always easy to find? I can name you a bunch of movies right now that you can easily locate at your local theater and they are terrible. The reason to see this movie is without question Mark Ruffalo’s performance.Remember, Mark Ruffalo always brings the goods.
