Forbes’ debut as a writer-director, INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, tells the story of Cam Stuart (Mark Ruffalo), a father suffering from manic depression. He is entrusted with the care of his two children whilst their mother (Zoe Saldana) goes to New York, hoping to find work to pull them out of their poverty. Based on the lives of Forbes’ own parents, and starring her daughter Imogene Wolodarsky as a fictionalised representation of Forbes herself, the film is a deeply personal portrait of a family apart.
The period setting that the autobiographical nature of the film provides is, however, underused to the point of forgetfulness – the sudden appearance of 70s automobiles and contemporary New York office interiors are the only visual reminders that Forbes’ film is set in any time other than the present. This lack of period definition is a shame, as whilst the era in which INFINITELY POLAR BEAR is set marks it out from similar glossy realist films, few other aspects do.
The film opens with a home movie reel and continues to rely upon this rather tired and overused emotional shortcut throughout, making the overall effect less genuine sentimentality and more tired cliché . Mark Ruffalo’s central performance is both commanding and inconsistent – at times he captures the true complexity of Cam’s internal struggle, and at others his delivery is bafflingly hammy, with the cartoonish intonation of a Hanna-Barbera character. Whilst this is presumably to make his clumsy interactions seem endearingly sincere and well-meant, it instead makes the pivotal, more down-to-earth moments of his character’s arc harder to take seriously. Zoe Saldana is limited to a disappointingly one-note performance by her character who, despite being the breadwinner and an empowered female figure, has been written simply to drive Cam’s narrative to the next story beat. It is clear that Cam is the centre of the screenplay’s attention and sympathies, and we are encouraged to see from his perspective, however irrational this may sometimes be.
Where INFINITELY POLAR BEAR does stand out is in the natural chemistry between Ruffalo and the two child actors, Imogene Wolodarsky and Ashley Aufderheide. However, these scenes of a father playfully attempting to create a deeper relationship with his children become repetitive and formulaic, and do little to hide the lack of meaningful character development. This slice of life storytelling may work well for a mumblecore drama, but not so much in a period drama that keeps raising its hand as if it has something important to say on mental health issues.
Honest explorations of mental illness on film are few and far between, and INFINITELY POLAR BEAR initially shows great promise in exploring these tough themes, its opening scenes sad and confrontational. But as Forbes drives the narrative and characters towards a more life-affirming and uplifting resolution, the uncompromising edge to these explorations is lost and the character portraits become sterilised. Similarly, Forbes includes passing examinations of class, race and gender prejudices of the period, but these are generally too superficial to harbour commentary of much substance.
As a historical and personal portrait, INFINITELY POLAR BEAR feels too unfocused and ambitious in what it seeks to explore. The moments of melodrama that demonstrate the torment that Cam’s illness causes him to suffer through are effectively jarring, but are lost amidst idealistic montages of his happier moments. It’s still a brave film in tackling difficult and personal topics head-on, but it perhaps has less to say to its audience than its creation has to say to its artist.
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