(Mike Cheslik, US 2022, 108 min., 35mm)
This hit film from last year returns to the Dryden, as we play the one and only 35mm print made of it. In the nineteenth-century Northern Frontier, successful applejack salesman Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) finds his business devastated by a fire caused by an eager beaver. As he recovers, he runs afoul of anthropomorphic rabbits, dogs, raccoons, and hundreds of beavers as he tries to win the heart of the merchant’s daughter. Shot in black-and-white, with no dialogue and stylized intertitles, the film starts out reminding the audience of the athletic humor of Buster Keaton, the silliness of Looney Tunes, and the absurdity of Monty Python, but ends somewhere between the campy action scenes of the Roger Moore James Bond films and the kaiju-building fun of Voltron, a rare feat indeed. Best seen with a crowd, this uproarious cinematic experiment will certainly give you something to chew on.