Infinitely Polar Bear (Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana)

[Holmes]

My review -

An extremely charming and well-acted story of domestic dysfunction and perseverance. In Boston in the late 1970s, Maggie (Zoe Saldana) raises daughters Amelia and Faith (Imogene Wolodarsky, Ashley Aufderheide) alone while her bipolar husband Cameron (Mark Ruffalo) slowly recovers in a hospital after a particularly volatile episode. When she receives a coveted scholarship to Columbia shortly after he is discharged, Maggie entrusts the care of the children to Cameron for a year and a half with enormous trepidation. Reportedly inspired by writer and director Maya Forbes' own New England upbringing, Infinitely Polar Bear is elevated from start to finish by an unforced, warm sense of nostalgia. Forbes also wisely sidesteps clichés and potential thematic hazards: her film is not a crisp, linear story of a man conquering his mental illness or transforming from a failed patriarch to the greatest father ever, but rather one of patience and tough love expressed daily amidst small failures and triumphs. In the formidable lead role, the ever-charismatic Ruffalo delivers one of the most riveting performances of his career to date. He instantly establishes a convincing, rambunctious dynamic and rhythm with his child co-stars (there is nary a false note as they argue and bond and test one another) and creates a multifaceted character who is, at his best, a buoyant and creative force, but also plagued by an unsolvable capacity for despair and rage.

A-