Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)

Infinitely Polar Bear: Directed by Maya Forbes. With Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky, Ashley Aufderheide. A father struggling with bipolar disorder tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don’t make the overwhelming task any easier.

“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 fatheru0026#39;s condition as u0026quot;polar bearu0026quot; – thematically relevant as the overall film is about the two girls learning to accept their fatheru0026#39;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 fatheru0026#39;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, Ruffalou0026#39;s performance is the filmu0026#39;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 filmu0026#39;s blanket negative attitude to the US public school system throughout, but it does act as an acceptable symbol of all that the girlsu0026#39; 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.”