Tag: 3 out of 4

Gloria!


Gloria! was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Sunday, May 12th as part of the festival, and it was the North American premiere of this film! You can see my interview with Margherita Vicario, the director/writer, here

Let’s talk about Gloria. Well, Gloria isn’t a character, so we can’t. It is however a common name/word used in religious songs, especially in Italian. You know, Gloria in Excelsis Deo? It means Glory really, but Gloria is also a nice name.

Instead we will talk about Lucia (Carlotta Gamba), who is at a school for choir music training, somewhere in Italy, in the 18th century. Like a lot of girls brought to the school, she was an orphan and so it is also an orphanage, bringing these girls to devout religion but also providing them food, shelter, and a service they can give back to their community. Lucia is also mute! That doesn’t really affect her hearing at all though, so she can still play instruments, she just cannot sing.

Oh, let me reiterate. Lucia can HEAR really well. In fact, she can imagine music all around her, in the everyday mendacity of life. Mr. Music would be so impressed. She also knows music can better than how it is currently presented, slow and dead. It can be upbeat, it can be fresh, it can have many different instruments providing different elements, and yes, even the human voice can be used to greater lengths.

But she is a woman, in a man’s world, and because this is holy music, it has to be done a SPECIFIC way. But with an upcoming visit by the Pope, yes, THE Pope, she thinks it is time to rebel, to spread new music, and to present to his greatest holiness what music could really be like.

Also starring Maria Vittoria Dallasta, Galatéa Bellugi, Veronica Lucchesi, Sara Mafodda, Paolo Rossi, and Elio.

orchaestra
Get up loser, we are going to pop-ify these sounds.
Gloria is such a cute movie! Rahhh! And I just need that to be known.

It looks amazing, from the costumes, the set, and the cameras used. It is portraying a dull religious school, but we can still see color when its needed, even in the darkest of moments for the characters, who are going to fight to overcome whats shackling them down. Overcome what? We are going to fight the patriarchy! And hell, even fight the papacy too! Men telling women what to do, how to think, what is right and wrong, its gone now! Let them live their lives!

Okay, yes, this is a work of fiction, and Lucia herself is not based on a person from history. And it is very unlikely that the sort of songs made in this movie, would have been made 3 to 400 years ago. But that is okay, because the point really is that these women were creative, and were not able to express their creativity. And apparently, thanks to some Napoleon nonsense at some point, works that were created by these women composers became lost. At the end we find out this film is dedicated to those women, who likely had a voice, but it was silenced at some point and aren’t people in the history books as a result.

That is a good enough cause for me.

Like I said, it is a very great looking film. But also, it is just fun. It is a good time to be had, while shining light on a real unspoken part of history. It is silly, it is modern, but the cast of characters feel distinct enough and well. They just want to have fun.

Gloria! is fun.

3 out of 4.

The Quiet Maid


The Quiet Maid was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Sunday, May 12th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film!

Ana (Paula Grimaldo) is a Colombian who finds herself in Spain! She is here to work as a maid, to earn more money, because her sister is going to go to medical school, but they need money for it. She finds a family who needs maid services, and can sponsor her living in the country.

They promised that soon, in September, they will work on getting her the papers she needs to be a permanent citizen, which would mean a higher salary, and an ability to make more money. But first, the whole month of August, she is with this same family in their big vacation home. They need her there every day, 7 days in a row, none off, and if she does will during their vacation, she will be given a lot more time off and money with the family back at their regular home.

But, of course, this family is a bunch of rich fuckers. The dad doesn’t trust her. She is constnatly talked about like she isn’t there from the son’s horndog friends. She can’t go out and have fun ever, like Gisela (Nany Tovar), a fellow Colombian maid from a different house nearby. Gisela pushes her to date, to dance, and more, but Ana knows one wrong move, she could be fired, and sent back out of the country.

The family sucks though, and eventually Ana will realize that they are not going to necessarily keep their words. So she is going to have to make her own way through this month, for herself, and for her family back at home.

Also starring Ariadna Gil, Luis Bermejo, Pol Hermoso, and Violeta Rodríguez.

smokebreak
Sometimes you need a break to just play with your pussy.

Yes, this is another fuck the rich movie. But this one does it the best, of ones I have seen so far at SIFF. A bit satirical at times, and a little bit over the top. Certainly a potentially strong pro-woman message about a woman doing things her way, and accomplishing despite men and spiteful women trying to break her.

According to the trivia, this is the first European film to be fully funded by NFTs. Which is something I really hate to hear, and it makes sense a few of the plot elements in retrospect. I won’t let that take away anything from the actual movie, but NFT’s just feel scammy to me, so I wonder if anyone got scammed as a result of the making of this film. That would drive me nuts.

Grimaldo as the lead does a lot with a little. After all, she is *quiet*, not loud. She is an observer, and makes plans in case things blow up. She speaks up for herself when she realizes that these papers can likely never come, but is also forced into many uncomfortable situations thanks to the nature of her job. She can’t really say “No” a lot for reasonable tasks that would fall under her umbrella, and if she agreed to be with them every day, she has to be with them in their good and their bad moments.

I think this film is a bit funny, despite the drama and serious moments. A good tale of gleeful revenge and perseverance by the end. We are all Ana at points, and its good to see when good people come up on top.

3 out of 4.

Seagrass


Seagrass was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Monday, May 13th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film! You can check out my interview with director, Meredith Hama-Brown, here!

Judith (Ally Maki) and Steve (Luke Roberts) are going through something. Judith is a Japanese Canadian, and Steve is “White Canadian”, and being an interracial couple comes with a lot of difficulties other couples never have to face or talk about. But they are now working on couples therapy. The one they picked is actually many days long and a vacation spot, with other couples. A nice destination to air out their issues and work together to find their love again. In a beautiful area!

And this is one that is for the whole family. They have two kids (Remy Marthaller, Nyha Huang Breitkreuz), who also have their own problems growing up, being of mixed ethnicities, and their identity. But on this vacation is an area with a lot of kids, and kids activities, so they have plenty to do and fun to be had, while their parents are having a bit less fun.

The catalyst for this story is that Judith’s mom died recently, and Judith has been in a funk ever sense. Hopefully they can work on their issues. Hopefully the last decade wasn’t a waste. Or was it?

Also starring Sarah Gadon and Chris Pang, as another Asian/White couple at the resort, with their genders swapped from our two leads. Although notably, the man is Chinese Canadian, not Japanese.

cave
Scenic cool cave shot but don’t worry, the cave MATTERS.
Seagrass is a film that is one step away from being a thriller, purely for tense moments in their drama. Honestly, I wondered if this might turn into a murder story. Or a ghost story. Or something. I was a bit scared at times, as they really ramped certain events at the end. And the camera work. The camera really liked to linger, or do some far away shots, and it had me wondering if something was going to pop out and the genre was going to switch.

I think that can all be attributed to the wonderful acting and script for this story. While its not as tense as films that make you clench early on and never let go, it gives subtle hints of a potential ending disaster, and you never know if this is going to be the time for a boiling over point.

Maki does a lot of great work here specifically. Roberts is a good standard dull white guy, who isn’t unable to understand view points outside of his own. But Maki has to put in the full range here. And she is wonderful for it.

I didn’t know exactly where Seagrass was going with its story by the end, but it chose a very nice path, with some powerful final words. I am also glad that the 1994 Vancouver Hockey riots were a part of the story as well. Always important to include those into movies, if at all possible.

3 out of 4.

Admissions Granted


Admissions Granted was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Sunday, May 12th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this documentary!

Getting into college can be hard! After all, before you can even qualify, it takes most people at least 12 years to finish high school first. That is a big time commitment. If you don’t do it early on, who knows, you might run out of time. But finishing high school isn’t the only thing you have to do. You also have to take extra tests to show you are smart. You have to stand out, so might need to show you volunteered. Or participated in clubs. Or excelled in the arts. Or had hobbies. Or might need to be a great writer. Who knows!

But then colleges have to pick you. And they look at all these standards. And if they are public a certain percentage need to be in state. They need to make sure they have a diverse student body, and diversity can mean a lot of things. Now for one group of students, who had high marks, perfect scores, and extracurriculars, they had their eyes set on Harvard, and got denied. Now these students, realizing a lot of them were Asian American, founded the “Students for Fair Admissions” (SFFA) group, and decided to sue Harvard, for not including them because of their race. Using affirmative action AGAINST them.

This lead to bigger law suits, and multiple attempts, and eventually UNC got grouped together with it as well, for a lawsuit that would go against the Supreme Court, and threaten to end Affirmative Action forever.

protest
This case was a good poster child for race war.

Now, this case did happen literally summer of 2023. So you might already know the result. If you care about this, you knew the result. But this let you know a lot of the players involved, and hear both sides talk passionately. And how many years this took, waiting for a majority supreme court to be Conservative. At this same time, there is talk of groups being used for alternative purposes. And using the people, even if they don’t care about them, because they just want Affirmative Action to go away.

And this documentary goes into SO MUCH DETAIL. Like, yes, they both sides the argument. And that both sides have legitimate points of view, but not always the full story. For example, just having the best test grades does not mean one is going to be picked for college. There are so many factors involved, and the school is painting a giant picture, that there is something more, and SHOULD be something more. Similar to how the best person who applies for the job might not always get it. Because building diverse groups with different backgrounds and talents makes sense, you don’t want a team of all clones.

This is a frustrating thing, because there is clearly a right side, but the other side has valid points, and it doesn’t mean the absolute destruction of a program. It just means more clarity and changes are needed. But wildly enough with this documentary, there was a line or two at the very end, about asking some deep, deep questions about Harvard and their resources in general, that is such a mind blowing statement, I want a documentary purely on that.

In the end, Harvard isn’t the end all be all of places that must exist. There are so many good places, it shouldn’t be on a pedestal. I love how fair this documentary felt. No one was a bad guy. Well, one lawyer clearly was. But outside of that, people were people, even when yelling in each others faces protest chants outside the Supreme Court.

3 out of 4.

Fish War


Fish War was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Saturday, May 11th as part of the festival, and it was the World premiere of this documentary! You can see my interview of two of the directors here

Ah yes, wars over animals. They happen a lot in the Pacific North West. For example, may I inform you about the 1859 Pig War on the San Juan Island in Washington? When the United Kingdom and United States were trying to figure out how to split the land between Washington and Canada, the islands became a touchy subject. Both armies landed on San Juan and a pig was killed and they stayed there until eventually, the US got to keep those island groupings.

See? Lot of animal wars. Now, Fish War is a documentary mostly about events that took place a hundred plus years after the very small Pig War, but it unfortunately started before that. It started with the United States pushing around the native tribes and forcing them to sign treaties, often with wars and suffering involved. Things were forced and one sided. But the indigenous populations of Washington decided to sign a treaty on their own terms, before all of that, and they fought for specific rights. One of the biggest, was their right to still live and fish in the Puget Sound, of which it was said to be equal with the others that now lived there as well. A 50/50 split of the fishing in the sound.

But, in the early 1970’s, laws had made it illegal for the Native Americans to fish where they always had. So they kept doing it, kept getting arrested, and soon the split ended up being about 2/98%, not in their favor at all. The literal white man was taking all of the fish, and ignoring the treaty. So they decided to sue the State of Washington, the language was clear. And sure enough, the judges agreed with the tribes. The fishers of Washington were illegally over fishing the areas, and needed to limit their supplies greatly.

Unfortunately, a lawsuit win apparently isn’t enough. People ignored it. People got mad. People tried to be violent. The Attorney General of Washington made it his mission to get it overruled, and it kept going to the court for decades after, making the tribes constantly battle for what they had always deserved. You don’t always get the state of Washington to be the bad guy in stories, so it is very interesting when that shows up.

boat
And you know what? They should have higher than 50% too.
Fish War was not just a fascinating look at recent history in the Pacific North West, but it was a fascinating look at things that are still happening right now. Because overfishing and destroying of the salmons habitat have also occurred, and the legal system has consistently ruled that their rights are worth protecting, and if there are no fish at all, then the treaty is broken, so the ecosystems all must be protected as well. If you are an environmentalist, or care about Native American rights, this is a story for you.

Honestly, hearing this one old lady remember stories from the 70’s, how they got away with their civil disobedience and continued to fight for their rights filled me with wonder. She was so giddy at being able to stick it to the man, and knowing she was on the right side of history. These personal stories of people who just fifty years ago were fighting the good fight, and their fathers and mothers, and have to continue to fight this thing is absolutely mind boggling. Like, when will the United States stop harassing Native Americans? Based on the number of documentaries and stories I have seen lately, the answer is not fucking soon enough.

I always wonder what I would do in other people’s shoes during moments like these, and I can’t help but feel I would be a coward and run. So it is important to learn about and honor these local heroes. If we can learn lessons from them, we can learn that a regular person can be the change needed for the world, and it might help more people get involved.

I am happy Fish War is getting its World Premiere in this area, because it is solely about this area, and as a younger individual, it is something I never would have known without it. There is always so much more in the world going on, before we were around, and there will be a lot after it as well. We can only hope that we spend our time fighting for what is right, and helping others, so that many future generations can have the same benefits.

3 out of 4.

Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox


Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Friday, May 10th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film! You can see my interview with the director/writer and star here!

Tim Travers (Samuel Dunning) is a smart guy, a scientist, and a bit of an asshat. Oh, sounds like someone you know I am sure. He also seemingly has invented time travel on his own. He was able to go back in one time and see his past self. His past self didn’t expect that though. So Tim killed him.

Why would Tim do that? Because everyone knows about the famous time traveling paradox. About what would happen if you go back in time to kill yourself, or kill your grandpa. It is impossible. It doesn’t fathom or make sense. But Tim was about to do that. So WHAT is really going on here, and how did things break?

So while this is happening, another Tim comes back from the future, and the killings continue. They do until they don’t! Meaning, eventually, we get multiple Tim’s, all pondering and confused as to what is going on, and what does it mean for the science community. What can they do with this machine, can they make it better, and can they become GODS? Okay, no one is going to become a god.

But also during this time, a lot of them like to get drinks at the local bar. And there is some dating stuff happening with Delilah (Felicia Day), who certainly doesn’t believe a poop of this story.

Also starring Joel McHale, Danny Trejo, Keith David, Jeff Hilliard, Nicole Murray, and Stimson Snead.

fourtims
Tim, Tim, Tim, and Tim.
What can you say about a new time travel movie, when we have so many excellent ones out there? Because a time travel movie has to be able to stand on its own. It has to have new ideas, that aren’t too abstract or confusing. Well, they could be abstract or confusing if they leave fully into it. You know, like Primer. That one is famous for being so hard to get, while actually doing a great factual job at what it accomplished. Once you are able to map it out.

Tim Travers decides to launch itself more into the sillier aspects of time travel. Like, I got it for awhile. And then I stopped getting it. Then I stopped caring about getting it, and just focused on the strange story. If this thing IS actually based on some sort of time travel logic, and isn’t just shenanigans, I couldn’t tell you. I would be very impressed if it was! (But I think its just shenanigans, and I won’t hold it against them. But if you demand your time travel stories to be consistent with their rules, this one might not be it!)

As for the movie, Dunning is a strong lead for a indie picture like this. Whenever you have to play multiple people, I assume it has to be very tricky, especially if they all start to gain quirks and differences. And you know, acting as if someone is near you, but they aren’t, because you have to be spliced in later as the other part. Times uhhh, a large number. So for at least a movie of this size and budget it, he absolutely nailed it. Now, I don’t watch Doctor Who, nor do I want to, but he gives what I assume to be David Tennant Doctor Who vibes.

Again, this story is VERY silly. And its all over the place. And it has a strange amount of cameos that you would never have guessed, assuming you didn’t read my plot summary up above. It has heart, and some science behind it, which is more than a lot of films, so it becomes worht the time.

3 out of 4.

WaaPaKe (Tomorrow)


Waapake (Tomorrow) was watched as part of Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival 2024! It had its U.S. Premiere on Thursday, April 25th as part of the festival.

In case you did not know, there used to be a policy in the United States, as part of the treaty signings, that indigenous communities would agree to have their children be assimilated into United States “culture” through their schools. Notably, this was ALSO TRUE IN CANADA. In fact, this documentary is dealing with Canadian indigenous families. Of course, as part of these signed treaties, the sides were never on equal grounds, and these native groups were almost always forced to do it, or else. But even then, it is doubtful that those communities understood exactly what that clause would mean.

Which was of course, children being taken from their homes, and often sent to boarding schools. Not just any boarding schools, ones often FAR from where they actually lived. Schools that had little to no accountability and were seemingly encouraged to belittle and even beat these kids into conformity. To make it so that these kids would only have this new countries culture, whatever that means. A lot of students who were taken were changed alright, and generally for the worse. Depression, drug addictions, anxiety, and even suicide were common. They were put into situations away from their families and had no support system.

This documentary is about those people, a little bit. But even more notable, it is about the generation of people that came after. So the people interviewed for this piece are sons, daughters, and grandsons/granddaughters of survivors from these schools. About how their older relative has been negatively harmed, how it has affected their current lives, and more importantly, how they can potentially heal from this to have a stronger tomorrow.

snow

This is how you can know it was made in Canada, by the way.

It is hard to talk about this just on the Canadian level, because we know these sorts of things happened in the US as well. But Canada has been more in the news for it lately, given they had various burial sites found outside of some of these schools, with many dozens of bodies, all in a large unmarked grade. A lot of shady shit happened at these schools. Awful things. Abuse. More. But as the documentary put it, generational trauma is an important thing to acknowledge and point out, but generational healing can also occur.

This is not to wash away the crimes of the past. But that is why this documentary brought in the various stories, of the offspring of survivors, to note their similar upbringings and the negative harms that came out of it. But it is very uplifting at the same time, with their statements about how they will make sure they fix certain issues, so that their own children do not have to go through it again. They want to break the cycle, and part of that comes through talking about it.

WaaPaKe is a powerful documentary, a stronger documentary if you go in already know about the schooling atrocities for indigenous groups in the past. It is also stronger knowing this was made by a Canadian native, involving her own story, her families, and others to put this piece together. After all, these stories are horrifying, but often still the human, personal element, can be missing. These types of documentaries make it more personal, and really puts the important aspects out there.

3 out of 4.

Pure O


Pure O was watched early from a screener. It is being released on April 12th, 2024. You can see an interview I had with Dillon Tucker, the director, here.

Cooper (Daniel Dorr) is straight up not having a good time right now. He thinks about death, too much. He thinks about killing, too much. He is in a huge depressive funk and can’t seem to snap out of it, even when recently engaged to his long term girlfriend, Emily (Hope Lauren). But when talking to his therapist (Candice Renee) about his issues, she lets him know he has OCD.

But how can this be? He doesn’t have nervous tics, he doesn’t repeat steps, he has heard of OCD before, and that isn’t him, it is just depression. A big part of it is experiencing distressing intrusive thoughts, without the compulsions. It can be categorized into specific categories of types of intrusive thoughts, but it all comes back to OCD, and is known as Pure O in the community.

Cooper, a musician, and a rehab counselor himself, really doesn’t think it is possible, but after his googling and research, he agrees to try to work on this aspect, to see if he can fix himself, to fix his relationships, and hopefully live a life free from the harms inside his brain. He knows addictions, he knows the right things to say to others, but following that advice can prove to be difficult.

Also starring Landry Bender, Jeffery A. Baker, Clint James, Hamish Patterson, and Isaac Nippert.

stare
I bet when he stares this way at women, they also receive a Pure O.
One of those things that really bugs me is when people say they are OCD about a task, completely belittling the experiences of those who have actual forms of OCD. Does that affect this movie? Absolutely not. But bringing up how fucked up that is in any circumstance is appropriate, so that maybe someone can learn to not do that. And if it is going to happen in a movie review, why not one that deals with OCD.

Now the director, Dillon Tucker, who is also the writer, made this movie purely because it was personal to him, and telling a story about his own life, and being diagnosed with OCD. It is his story, he just doesn’t also star in it (although he did cameo as a random person also in the therapy groups).  And you can tell it was made by someone who really knew the story, because of all of the unexpected things added to the story. In an “OCD” story where someone is writing about it from a lack of personal experiences, it is the only part of the story. The rest of it doesn’t matter. But in this movie, it is the main framing of the story, but the main character still has to live his life. He happens to also be a counselor, and is still working with individuals dealing with addiction. He still has to plan a wedding and learn how to better himself for his fiancé.

And honestly, Pure O, with ITS honesty, just hits all the right notes for a powerful drama. It tells a still unexpected story, that is meant to really help others through their own worries and providing some therapeutic moments on the screen for them to see. But also when it comes to ones disabilities, the more people are aware how it can affect their life, and be a constant grating pressure at all moments, might just help people stop being such assholes to each other.

This film has several intense moments. Notably a knife scene, and another character having a meltdown, but they are played so serious and so well done that it is emotionally touching for the viewer.

Off the top of my head, I know I have seen films about OCD before, but I can’t think of them right now. Because Pure O is the right one to see.

3 out of 4.

Sting


Sting was watched early from a screener. It is being released on April 12th, 2024.

I HATE SPIDERS. Let’s get that out of the way.

Sting, is of course, not about a bee, but about a spider. And it is about a little apartment complex.

You see, Ethan (Ryan Corr) lives with his family in an okay apartment. Ethan makes comics and is also the building superintendent. He is a fixit man. His step daughter, Charlotte (Alyla Browne) doesn’t like him as much as her dad, who she hasn’t seen in forever. Even though he has made great attempts to be closer to her. Because they are so familiar with the complex, Charlotte likes to go in through the very large air ducts around the building, to see and discover.

And that is where she finds a little tiny egg that crashed in through the window, that she knows nothing about. What a cool egg. Time to keep it and put it in a jar. Oh, and in the jar it hatches into a spider? Cute. A really smart spider at that. One that seems to be very strong and capable. One that seems to grow very very fast, but enjoys Charlotte’s company.

Anyways, long story short, that thing gets super big and starts to take out the members of this apartment complex and get even bigger. It’s like Audrey II! And now that it has turned itself on her family and Charlotte herself, so Charlotte is going to have to kill her new friend Sting. Or you know, die.

Also starring Jermaine Fowler, Noni Hazlehurst, Penelope Mitchell, Robyn Nevin, and Silvia Colloca.

sting
Whenever I see a spider on my ceiling, I leave the city.
I HATE SPIDERS! Okay, figured I would remind you of that. I am surprised that spider films aren’t much more common. I feel like random other killer bugs get a lot of horror films, but spiders, barely? We had famously things like Arachnophobia and Eight Legged Freaks. Not really any I could think of that were mainstream. There is another independent film out from France, called Infested, that I haven’t had a chance to see yet.

So why does Sting work? Well, first of all, we get a nice alien spider thing, not just a normal spider, so there is a reason for it all happening. We get a very limited space for it to run around in, and apparently the world’s biggest air ducts (perfect for any movie of course). Which is also perfect for a giant spider to lay traps. And a slight family story to keep the plot more than just a survival flick.

My biggest complaint from the film is just the introduction, which featured a scene that happened LATE in the narrative of the film overall, providing a different point of view of later events. But it made it a little confusing since no other aspect it told out of order, so I was led to believe that we already had a giant spider running around. It was the type of scene that felt like its own strange short film, could have stood on its own as a 5-6 minute easily. But it was just unnecessarily placed at the start, maybe to catch our interest? Like the first 5 seconds of shitty trailers on YouTube.

I really enjoyed Corr as the step-dad. He had good beard energy that all dads and stepdads need. Also Browne, our real main character kid actress, was a certifiable badass. Imagine being a kid wanting a spider to crawl around your hands. Couldn’t be me.

Overall, Sting had a lot of fresh new energy to the Spider-horror genre, which as noted, is already severely lacking. It reminds me of The Purge. It is like a home invasion story, but different. There is a spider.

3 out of 4.

Hundreds of Beavers


Hundreds of Beavers was watched early as a screener. Its is playing theatrically in Washington at Bainbridge on March 9, 2024. It should be released digitally in April. You can watch my interview with the director (Mike Cheslik) and star (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) right here as well.

What would you do, if you were living your best life as an apple farmer, making beer, and then your whole farm blows up unexpectedly? Also, suddenly it becomes a deep deep winter and you are all alone, no resources, in the wild. How would you SURVIVE.

Well for Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews), he found himself in that very specific scenario. Now, don’t worry, he won’t talk to you about his plans out loud. He won’t really talk at all. He will start to get harassed by animals, who tease and torment him, as he tries his darndest to kill them for sustenance.

Eventually, Jean finds a fur trader (Doug Mancheski) who sells gear, weapons, and more for some beaver pelts. So beavers are what must be hunted! Surprisingly, one of the items on the list is the ability to marry his daughter, (Olivia Graves), who seems to be attracted to Jean. Now Jean has a goal besides survival. He is going to kill so many beavers. So many. And then he will be happily married.

Also starring Wes Tank and Luis Rico.

beavers
The hundreds of beavers are coming after you, and can hurt you.
 

There are not a lot of movies like Hundreds of Beavers. There are not…any movies like Hundreds of Beavers? From the animal outfits, to the extreme black and white setting, to the over the top flowing of zaniness, this film is a unique entity that stands on its own. Harking back to Charlie Chaplin movies, Hundreds of Beavers is not just slap stick, it is Snow Stick, its own unique drama where falling into holes, off of trees, and into snow, is half of the fun. The other half is people in beaver and bunny costumers kicking some guys ass.

I rarely condone a film that solves its problems with violence, but this is a special type of violence. This is Looney Tunes. This is art. This is cinema.

This is a film where there isn’t really dialogue, but grunts and sim sounds. This is a film with a plot that is easy to explain, but a wonder to experience.

I honestly don’t think I will ever see a movie like Hundreds of Beavers again in my lifetime. I find that harrowing and sad. I want to rent out a person in a beaver suit to beat me up. I want to have a cartoonishly large bunny chase me down the streets. Is this awakening something new in me? I sure hope not.

Honestly I have nothing but great things to say about Hundreds of Beavers. I want you to watch it alone or with your friends or while drunk. I think you will have a good time.

4 out of 4.