Hundreds Of Beavers – Review

18th August 2024

Hundreds Of Beavers – Review

‘Hundreds of Beavers’ takes place during a supernatural-esque 19^th century, where a drunken applejack salesman has his empire destroyed by beavers, thus becoming North America’s greatest trapper.

Whilst the latest blockbusters intrigue me, I also take an interest in indie and lower budget films, and this is one of those. The premise, and trailer, definitely caught my eye and I’m happy this exists because it’s a joy to experience. And, with it’s 18 wins and 2 nominations including Best Director and Best International Feature at last year’s Phoenix Film Festival and Fantasia Film Festival, ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ has finally got a release in the UK.

The film has a very small cast (not counting the animals!), but the majority of the film is carried by Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (Lake Michigan Monster), who plays the fur trapper Jean Kayak. Kayak is someone who owned a brewery that was destroyed by beavers, leading him to go on this very strange journey to reclaim his beloved business. And Ryland is incredible as Jean; he brings such a charm to the film and effortlessly acts, falls and tumbles his way through the duration. Plus, he easily gains the hearts of the audience through his acting and his situation. But he also brings in the humour, most of which is slapstick comedy, and does so brilliantly; he fits in comfortably with this comedic subgenre. The rest of the main human cast are also fantastic, even if their roles are minor. Doug Mancheski, who plays The Merchant, Olivia Graves, who plays the Furrier, and Wes Tank, who plays the Master Fur Trapper, all accompany Ryland perfectly and further bring in various gags throughout the film. Because there’s a complete absence of dialogue, it not only relies on its humour, but also the acting, which is influenced by that of theatre and films of the 1920’s and 1930’s. It makes the film unique in the current film industry and works beautifully because all the cast commit to the same acting style. Plus, the film being in black and white further implements its older film influences to great effect.

And, yes, I said human cast; while the forementioned actors play humans, the rest of the cast is much larger, and they all play various animals: Rabbits, Horses, Raccoons and finally Beavers. And, if the film didn’t have enough humour in it already, the actors are dressed in party shop-style mascot costumes and are essentially let loose to create mayhem around Jean Kayak. This is where another part of the humour comes in. It’s not only absurd and funny to watch the physical comedy, as these actors tumble and run across the various sets, but there’s a charm to it. With a budget of $150,000, the costumes, plus the occasionally obvious green screen, is what makes ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ special – a lot of thought, love and care has been placed into every shot and it shows.

Like previously mentioned, ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ comedy is made up of physical and slapstick comedy, as well as running gags throughout. Sometimes the latter is repeated in the span of a minute, which makes it even funnier when it occurs. But it also means that something is always happening onscreen whether it’s minimal or not, or whether it’s occurring in the background or foreground. This means that I was always entertained and constantly laughing; it’s been a while since a film has made me laugh throughout and it’s something that I appreciate. As well as the acting style influences, the gags and comic relief all seem inspired by cartoons like ‘Tom & Jerry’, ‘Looney Tunes’ and even classic ‘Spongebob Squarepants’, meaning there’s a mix of different styled gags, including visual ones and sound-based ones.

Accompanying the visuals is the music, which plays an important role in the film. The music, and cartoon-like sound effects, are minimal and only makes an appearance to further emphasis a gag, or further solidify a character’s emotion in a certain situation, e.g.: when a character trips over something, there’s a boing sound occasionally. While this, and the absence of dialogue works, it does mean that one scene does stand out. This scene involves two characters suddenly opening their mouths to silently speak sentences, while an old-fashioned black and white board appears, displaying written text of what they’re saying. Because the rest of the film has no talking, other than the characters making occasional grunts and yells, this particular scene feels jarring; it would’ve been better if the scene had continued to commit to the exaggerated acting.

Despite this, ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ is a delightful and brilliantly funny experience. The acting is fantastic, not only by the human characters but also the costumed actors, and it proudly wears its cartoon and silent film influences on its sleeve, to amazing effect. If you’re looking for something different and unique from the current film industry, then this is one to watch.

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