Brigsby Bear, starring, based on story by and written by Kyle Mooney and Kevin Costello - Nine out of 10

Brigsby Bear, starring, based on story by and written by Kyle Mooney and Kevin Costello

Nine out of 10

Brigsby Bear is an outré, sensitive, original, sweet – this is how Arielle Smiles describes James in the café – acclaimed, independent production that benefits though from the presence in the cast of a few heavyweights:

Greg Kinnear, Claire Danes and we can include Mark Hamill of star Wars fame, and Matt Walsh, who, apart from Veep has been present in quite a few motion pictures recently.

The creator of the story and co- writer of the script has the leading role in this unusual  comedy, Kyle Mooney plays the role of James Pope and the success of the film rests a lot on his accomplishment, seeing as his innocence, authenticity, amusing take on events, quirkiness, affability, naturalness contributes significantly to the entertainment of the audiences.

James is kidnapped by a couple of bizarre individuals, Ted and April Mitchum, who keep him isolated in something like a bunker, with its own electricity generator – when James reunites with his ‘real ‘family, he says at one point that it is his bed time and besides, they have to shut down the generator and then he learns that they are actually connected to a grid.

Ted and April have created a separate word, a false universe for the hero of the story, for they gave him access not to the internet we all take for granted and depend so much on, but to a sort of intranet, a network which was closed to the outside world and on which the false parents posted messages which they presented as coming from real people, who reacted presumably to seeing the Brigsby Show.

Indeed, Brigsby and other characters in this close circuit program, like the Sun Catcher, have represented a magical, unique, fascinating galaxy for the boy who had no contact with another universe, perhaps to make an exaggerated parallel, in the same way that movie goers seem to be hooked on Avengers, X- Men and other personages released from the comics books to invade the Screen Trade, and go to see them in hordes.

Louise and Greg Pope are the real parents and they try to re-connect with the son who has been absent from their lives for more than two decades, with his father suggesting that the lost child who is an adult now should join in the favorite activities of the family, such as swimming in the pool and lake, fly fishing and the like.

As Aubrey says, the lost son is in fact freaked out and not interested in these activities and he does not connect well with his therapist, Emily aka Claire Danes, who claims that he must put his past behind him, while James seems only interested in the bond, the infatuation he has had with the show that he saw in the kidnappers’ refuge, on video cassettes, totaling an impressive 25 series or so.

The still unadapted former prisoner joins his sister and they go to a party, where he drinks alcohol and uses some drugs, unused as he is with them, he passes out, but not before kissing, making out with his sister’s friend, Meredith, who puts her hands in his pants and creates a frenetic, explosive reaction in the ex- recluse.

At this shindig, James meets Spencer, a young man who gets very interested in the project mentioned by the fan of Brigsby Bear and the show, to make a movie, an adaptation of the series, just as they did with Bewitched for instance, and they sometimes do in reverse, Catch 22, one of the best ten books of the last century, according to The Modern Library, has been adapted for the bid screen and now it is a series on HBO.

Spencer and James start working at the movie, getting unexpected help from Detective Vogel aka Greg Kinnear, who is supporting them with the props, costumes and background, and on top of that, he even acts in the Brigsby Bear movie, using his past experience as Prospero in The Tempest – before enrolling as a law enforcement officer, detective Vogel has been an amateur actor on occasion.

Nevertheless, a nadir is reached when the parents come to the conclusion that they cannot cope with the obsession that their son has with a childish, ridiculous Bear – which sounds about right – and that is made worse, of course, when in order to make the special effects more credible, exuberant, the movie director buys some fertilizer and uses what is practically a small bomb to explode for his film.

Therefore he is taken to a mental institution, where he becomes a patient and we may think that this is the future for this inadapted, big child – which he actually is – who is analyzed by the rigorous, stern, inflexible and perhaps outmoded Emily and assigned to a life of confinement, unless he eventually gives up his bear and the dreams associated with it.

To avoid spoiler alerts, let us just stop here and not talk about what happens next and say only that the comedy has emotional moments and it is educational in its own way, given that the hero is a dedicated, idealistic, creative man, who follows his dream with resilience.