Hundreds of Beavers is a comedy set in 19th century Wisconsin about applejack salesmen Jean Kayak(Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) who becomes a fur trapper. Shot in black and white, with a combination of Charlie Chaplin style slapstick, Looney Tunes chaos, and video game methodology the film follows Kayak as he attempts to rebuild his life after the titular beavers destroy it.
Tews gives a wonderful, big hearted, open performance. There is very little dialogue and other than himself he is mostly playing against people in animal costumes. He's able to execute some effective and complicated physical comedy while also transmuting palpable emotion with an over-the-top exaggeration that is in keeping with the delicious alchemy of style the film creates. The four other humans in the cast are equally adept but have significantly less screentime. And all the cast in animal costumes are surprisingly evocative.
The film looks incredible, the ingenuity of the images and the integration of various influences in style is tremendous and works in harmony to create something which clearly nods to its inspirations but in itself feels wholly new, completely unique. The costuming is relatively simple, almost archetypal, but works to evoke an almost ethereal(and funny) folk tale. There is a fair amount of greenscreen work but its integration is seamless and furthers the cartoon-reality. In short all the production elements are woven together into a melodious tapestry, a testament that cinema is very much alive, and that creativity and innovation can and will eclipse the necessity of budget. Not to mention theme, the film tackles isolation, love, alcoholism, and the fur trade among others but with its zany mad-cap energy its able to zip in and out of the ideas effectively while delivering its non-stop gags.
Absolutely stupendous.
Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.
Don't Miss It.
Unfrosted is a corporate comedy, a fictionalized version of the origin of Pop-Tarts, co-written/directed/starring Jerry Seinfeld.
Seinfeld is stiff, wooden, and wholly unreal in this sad, dated, painful movie in-line with the recent baffling trend of product based biopics(see Air, Blackberry, The Beanie Bubble et al). The cast is filled with star-level cameos but none are particularly fun, funny, or have much bearing on the negligible story the script contains. The sole exception is Hugh Grant as Thurl Ravenscroft, frustrated Shakespearian actor working as Tony The Tiger, but even then he is, in essence, just reheating his Paddington 2 character.
Quite frankly Unfrosted is embarrassing, the humor is obvious, dated, and ineffective. The "narrative" is contrived and fumbling, and there's an undeserved, out-of-touch, boomer smugness that permeates the whole endeavor that is insulting. Seinfeld, during his ill-advised promotional tour for the movie, stated the movie business "is over" which is interesting because one this movie is terrible and two this is the first movie he's ever made. And he's not inaccurate his movie business is most assuredly over. Ultimately Seinfeld's career, outside of the 90's, has very little impact or legacy and this extremely belated prepubescent attempt at a freshman feature underscores that fact.
To quote the late great Roger Ebert- I hated this movie. I hated, hated, hated this movie.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
Don't See It.
Free Time is an indie cringe-comedy about Drew(Colin Burgess) a 20-something NYC hipster who quits his job on a whim.
Burgess struggles to carry the movie despite its brief run time. The combination of the script and his performance fail to coalesce into anything engaging. The character is bafflingly devoid of personality, is petulant, entitled, and grating while at the same time remaining stunningly opaque(other than his job struggles and the fact he's in a band we know nothing about him) which for a protagonist is a hurdle the movie doesn't acknowledge let alone surmount. The supporting cast has talent but overall there seems to be very little interest in character only in premise despite this being a slice-of-life type story. Holmes who plays Kim, Drew's roommate's girlfriend, is the only one that's particularly funny or feels like a recognizable human being.
The production is all competent, looks decent, costumes, soundtrack all effective. But the movie isn't clear on what its trying to say nor how it wants to say it. The result is a derivative mess. Drew is insufferable, the idea of someone just quitting their job especially in NYC because of some immature existential musing smacks more of teen angst than actual adult thinking, and the exploration of this idea offers nothing coherent let alone insightful. What rich person wrote this? The socio-economic reality of most people in the US provides a large barrier of entry to this white upper-middle class NYC thought experiment. There is no reality here, no actual dramatic weight, and the "comedy" is pretty much entirely derived from Drew being a capricious socially incompetent baby.
Clearly inspired by NYC hit shows High Maintenance and Broad City this fails in capturing either heart or humor.
Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.
Don't See It.
