Hundreds of Beavers (2024) Review

Title: Hundreds of Beavers
Year: 2024
Director: Mike Cheslik 
Country: US
Language: English

In an era where Cinema has become increasingly less subtle in the messages each film wants to convey, it's nice to get a back-to-basics Silent Era slapstick comedy that has no agenda, other than to be absolutely hilarious. No, Hundreds of Beavers is not a raunchy 80's comedy, it is Looney Tunes meets Chaplin meets Monty Python. It is an energetic, imaginative, mythical film that is completely distinctive from any other film you will see this year. 

In this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman (Ryland Tews) must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

What is thrilling about Hundreds of Beavers, is the film's willingness to be creative and innovative; establishing its own rules in order to subvert audience expectations. The film does a tremendous job at setting up jokes, building up the suspense, and then paying it off. Every scene felt filled to the brim with humor, which made the overall story more compelling to watch.

This is an independent film with a shoestring budget, but it looks better than films made by a major Hollywood studio. Its sound design, score, set design and editing were notably impressive. Hundreds of Beavers is a very detailed film that looks like it required an enormous amount of storyboarding and pre-production planning to achieve. 

Some audiences may find Hundreds of Beavers repetitive, but I found myself captivated by the story and intrigued by its Road Runner-esque logic. I love the silent-era clowns and I will happily indulge in a film that pays homage to them. If you liked Gold Rush (1925), you'll love this.  

Shane (1953) Review

Title: Shane
Year: 1953
Director: George Stevens
Country: US
Language: English

Shane (1953) is a fable of a film; an American Western that echoes our yearning for the lost age of heroes, and the freedom often mythologized of a time long past. George Steven's vision of the Wild West is bold, brazen, and awe-inspiring. I'm surprised it has taken me this long to view Shane (1953), because I found myself captured by the narrative & beautifully constructed setting. 

Shane (Alan Ladd)  rides into a conflict between cattleman Ryker and a bunch of settlers, like Joe Starrett and his family, whose land Ryker wants. When Shane beats up Ryker's man Chris, Ryker tries to buy him. Then Shane and Joe take on the whole Ryker crew.

Shane was nominated for a number of awards but only ended up leaving with Best Cinematography, which it absolutely deserved. Every frame is gorgeous looking; perfectly capturing the time period with shots of dirty landscapes and dusty towns. The editing, set design, costume design and directing are all also well done. That year From Here to Eternity won Best Picture, but I'd have to imagine that most of the audience would have also been happy with Shane winning. 

The first film shot in "flat widescreen", a process invented by Paramount Pictures in order to better display the film's remarkable panoramic shots, the film is a dissection of the Western trope of "might vs. right." As Shane says in the film "There’s no living with a killing… There’s no going back from it. Right or wrong, it’s a brand, a brand that sticks. There’s no going back.” It's about a man who lives in a world where peaceful solutions to difficult problems may not be possible. It depicts a grand loss of innocence that audiences were feeling after World War Two. 

Director George Stevens had served in the US Army during World War Two. He had filmed the Invasion of Normandy, as well as the liberation of concentration camps. He had seen the graphic realities of violence. In a way, Shane  reflects his post-war attitude about the atrocities he had witnessed. "There's no going back from Killing.". Definitely a must-see.