By Drew Dietsch | Published
The year 2024 is drawing to a close and it's time for everyone to start getting their “Best of” lists together. After the smash success of They are not badmany critics and moviegoers point out that it is a legitimate contender for the Oscars for Best Picture. The $150 million production is a regular gross offering that ranks as the best movie people have seen in a year. That's because it's one of the few multiplex-monopolizing mega-studio blockbusters that push original and independent films. If the audience had more awareness and an open mind about the best movies of 2024, they would find that the actual best movie of the year is worth 1/1000 of the They are not badA high-end budget that is now an industry standard.
The best movie of 2024
Hundreds of Beavers an independent comedy film that cost $150,000 to produce. Taking inspiration from silent comics, black and white cartoons, and even video games, Hundreds of Beavers tells the deceptively simple story of an unfortunate named Jean Kayak who ends up needing to survive in the wintery desert as a fur trapper. This boils down to some incredibly contrived ingenuity as Jean finds himself at war with nature and its inhabitants (mainly beavers, but the title spoils that). Trying to mention all the villains and jokes here would hurt them. Hundreds of Beavers you really need to see it to believe it.
I can relate to you here Hundreds of Beavers it's not just the best movie of the year because it's a fun and professional display of art on many levels, but because it's so different from the studio system and shows that true art is often the domain of independent creators.
Original From Inspiration
Although not a measure of the quality of each film, the sheer dominance of non-original movies has become a major problem with my enjoyment of popular cinema. I should define “unusual” in this context. Let's take a look at the current Top 20 Box Office Earners of 2024 and see if we can piece together an explanation:
Of those, sixteen are in a row. Of those sixteen, ten of those are not direct sequels, meaning they enter the third or continuation of their franchise. When it comes to four non-sequels, one of those is They are not badPart 1 of the series on the way. And only one of those four non-sequels is an original script that hasn't been adapted from a previous work. Yes, when it comes to an original film that does well at the box office, IF number one.
So, what does this have to do with it? Hundreds of Beavers? One of the reasons it's the best movie of 2024 is how it manages to take inspiration from popular media and present it in a way that feels really fresh. Instead of “reference” to create its art, it combines all the things it likes into a new dish. You won't see the Triforce symbol anywhere in the movie as a form of advertising (heck, entire movies are video game ads at this point), but you will run into the film's use of video game visual language as a menu option. and world maps. Felix the Cat doesn't appear so that someone can get a few privileges and not be recognized by any modern viewer, but the silent era of animation of the possibility of chaos informs a lot about what makes Hundreds of Beavers a riot of laughter.
But, why bring the comparison to They are not bad's budget? Because it's just not Hundreds of Beavers originality that makes it the best movie of 2024. There are so many great original movies this year! What is it Hundreds of Beavers it benefits from such a relatively small amount of money that propels it to the first place.
Art Despite the Cost
I have never seen They are not bad so I won't criticize anything about that movie other than what I saw in the trailers and other promotional material. Specifically, They are not badThe cinematography looks a lot like the commercial and advertising cinematography we see in big ad campaigns. That doesn't mean it “looks bad” at all, but it comes across as uninspiring in the larger cinema space. Part of that is because it's backed by a major studio and studios have become very risk-averse when it comes to making movies that are impressive and stylish.
Compare that Hundreds of Beavers independently funded and what is able to use the genre of movies to do very little. I'm not trying to disparage (I'm sure it's over) the work of VFX artists and other background artists. They are not badbut I'm looking Hundreds of Beavers pull off such genius with 1/1000 of that film's budget is more empowering for the future of cinema than another bloutbuster blockbuster.
Do not take this passage as “They are not bad it's fun!” screed. I haven't seen it yet so I don't know if it's disgusting or not! But when we start all these annoying awards shows, remember that the actual movie 2024 is a piece of art made for less than a thousand years. They are not bads.
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