Hundreds of Beavers
Summary
Hundreds of Beaversis a wild , hilarious , inventive , no - holds - barred slapstick comedy unlike any other movie ever made – and it ’s the craziest film of the twelvemonth by far . Directed and co - written by Mike Cheslik on a shoestring budget of $ 150,000,Hundreds of Beaversstars Ryland Brickson Cole Tews as a nineteenth - 100 applejack salesman named Jean Kayak . When Jean ’s farm is destroy by a radical of pesky beavers and he ’s run aground in the snowy wild , he ’s forced to become a pelt trapper so as to keep himself warm and well - fed – and he finish up in an all - out war with … one C of beaver .
Since it does n’t have traditional mainstream appeal and its low budget required a destiny of scrupulous homemade animation to take out off the action succession , century of Beavershas need a long and twisty road to the openhanded CRT screen . It was shot across 12 weeks in the winter of 2019 and 2020 and the post - production was n’t wind up until 2022 . The movie had its premiere at Fantastic Fest in September 2022 and has pour down up at just about every other genre film festival since then . It was n’t released on VOD until April 15 , 2024 , and it ’s only just coming to theaters .
Hundreds Of Beavers Is Like The Revenant Meets Mr. Bean
It’s both a man-versus-nature frontier epic and a near-silent slapstick comedy
Essentially , Hundreds of Beaverscan be described asThe RevenantmeetsMr . Bean . LikeThe Revenant , it ’s about a man trying to make his way in the coarse American frontier , facing all the barbarism that nature has to offer in pursuit of his lost love . But , likeRowan Atkinson’sMr . Bean , it ’s a near - soundless slapstick drollery about a bumbling goof getting into increasingly ridiculous prank as he goes about his mean solar day - to - day natural process . It might sound like these two ideas would n’t mesh , but they ’re perfect bedfellowsin Cheslik ’s unique , idiosyncratic take on the gallant tradition of visual comedy .
It takes a few minutes to get intoHundreds of Beavers . The opening drinking collage , in which Jean is surrounded by crudely liven up drunkards , might have audiences wonder what the underworld they ’re watching . But once Jean is strand in the wintry wild and has to enter out how to feed himself , it ’s off to the races . Then , it becomes a string of increasingly ridiculous slapstick gags that keep build on each other . For the rest of its 108 - second runtime , Hundreds of Beaversdoesn’t let up for a 2d – it ’s a hugely entertaining drive .
Cheslik previously directedLake Michigan Monsterin 2018 .
Hundreds Of Beavers Pays Homage To Classic Cartoons & Slapstick Comedies
It’s like a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon
Hundreds of Beaversis style as a live - natural process cartoon , complete with goofy music cues , exaggerated sound core , and unbridled slapstick violence . Early in the motion picture , Jean bring in several futile attempts to catch a rabbit by any means necessary , and these scenes establish the movie as a iniquity , twistedLooney Tunescartoon . It ’s like Elmer Fudd assay to catch Bugs Bunny , but with a pot more blood .
AndHundreds of Beaversdoesn’t just pay homage toLooney Tunescartoons ; it ’s also a spot - on tribute to the classic silent comedies of the 1920s and 1930s . If Charlie Chaplin had madeThe Gold Rush100 age later , it would look something likeHundreds of Beavers . Like the very good workings of Chaplin and Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd , century of Beaversis a masterclass in optic storytelling . It tells the audience exactly what Jean is call up and what his end are at every spell without a exclusive news of spoken dialogue .
Hundreds Of Beavers Is Unlike Any Other Movie You’ll See This Year
Hundreds of Beavers is a true original
There have been a lot of great original flick this year , but they often owe a originative debt to previous cinema . Monkey Mancan be compared toJohn Wick;Longlegscan be compared toThe Silence of the Lambs;Abigailis a reimagining ofDracula ’s Daughter . Bona fide originality is hard to regain in the modern moviegoing landscape . ButHundreds of Beaversis a true original . Its slapstick laugh honor the custom ofLooney Tunes , butLooney Tuneswas never this crass . Its historic storyline was revolutionise byThe Revenant , butThe Revenantdoesn’t have extras in fauna costume .
There has never been a picture quite likeHundreds of beaver ; Cheslik contort every possible gag out of this ludicrous premise . It has a sled chase in the style of a high-pitched - velocity cable car chase . It has a kaiju made up of beavers heap on top of each other . It has beaver version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stress to track down the trapper . Hundreds of Beaversis the kind of movie that ’s impossible to describe and has to be seen to be believed .
