Modern Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects are typically major studio releases with lots of money at their disposal. Occasionally, smaller winners like “Ex Machina” breakthrough, but default winners are usually costly projects like “Blade Runner 2049,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,“ and “Inception.“ Generally, default nominees in this category are also blockbuster affairs. Even indie Best Picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once“ failed to get nominated in this category despite sweeping the Oscars in other categories.Â
The forthcoming 97th Academy Awards needs to upend this norm if only to expand what constitutes as “peak” visual effects at the Oscars. However, this year would be an especially critical time to subvert that standard. What other year has a special movie like “Hundreds Of Beavers” that’s worthy of a win—let alone a nomination—in this pivotal Oscars category? “Hundreds Of Beavers” is not just another film, director Mike Cheslik’s independent gem is a groundbreaking piece of art that challenges the traditional norms of visual effects in cinema.
Currently the best movie of 2024 (in this author’s opinion), “Hundreds Of Beavers“ is an almost entirely dialogue-free homage to classic silent films and vintage “Looney Tunes“ cartoons directed by Mike Cheslik (who wrote the script with the movie’s lead actor, Ryland Brickson Cole Tews). The film, with its unique visual effects, follows applejack salesman Jean Kayak (Tews), as he navigates a harsh winter landscape dominated by crafty animals (represented by humans in animal suits). His quest to win over the heart of a lovely lady, the Furrier (Olivia Graves), leads him to a mission of slaughtering beavers – lots and lots of beavers.
Made for just $150,000, “Hundreds Of Beavers“ cunningly uses a wide assortment of visual effects techniques to turn a handful of actors into a never-ending deluge of wild animals. A recent featurette exclusive to Letterboxd’s social media pages revealed further secrets of how all this madcap mayhem was unleashed. Most notably, performers in a single scene would be shot on wildly different days and then composited into the same scene. However, this digital-effects-heavy endeavor didn’t eschew reality during principal photography. Staggeringly, the featurette displays key green screen “exterior“ sequences shot in the sunlight. Actual wind and chilly temperatures course through these performers even as they perform against a green tarp. The creativity and resourcefulness of the production team are truly impressive.
Meanwhile, backgrounds weren’t simply stock images or – perish the thought – hideous A.I. creations. Instead, they’re original drone footage capturing locations like Lake Superior frozen over. “Hundreds Of Beavers“ lent incredible tangibility to its wacky aesthetic despite a minimal budget. Those cost restrictions are especially noteworthy to consider since they never stifle the imagination of “Hundreds Of Beavers.“ The movie keeps producing fun, new, heightened ways of depicting man vs. beast carnage at such a rapid pace that many $150+ million blockbusters would never be able to keep up.
If crafting such feats on a minimal budget isn’t worthy of a Best Visual Effects Oscar nomination, what is? Even regarding the legacy of this Academy Awards category, “Hundreds Of Beavers“ would be a welcome addition. Utilizing so much modern-day wizardry creates sights and gags rooted in cinema’s past that bridges the gap between vintage and current Oscar winners. “Hundreds Of Beavers“ evokes “Spawn of the North“ and “Wings“ in its retro style while featuring digital compositing work that would be miraculous in the biggest modern blockbusters. Why not welcome a motion picture that so effortlessly encapsulates many different decades of Best Visual Effects Oscars history?
Plus, a decidedly wacky comedy like “Hundreds Of Beavers“ does not get recognized at the Academy Awards every day. These titles typically get the cold shoulder from Oscar voters, who opt to recognize what they would consider to be “real“ movies instead (whatever that means). No matter the category, comedies draw the short straw at this ceremony. A deeply indie ramshackle exercise like “Hundreds Of Beavers,“ which never stops spewing inspired and charming gags at the audience, showing up at this year’s Academy Awards, would be a welcome change of pace from that de facto approach. After so many years of comedy movies being overlooked, “Hundreds Of Beavers“ could offer hope that the Academy is recognizing all the craftsmanship going into these productions, no matter how small or outside the box.
“Hundreds Of Beavers“ scoring a Best Visual Effects nomination would be a game-changer, especially following up “Godzilla Minus One’s” historic Best Visual Effects Oscar win earlier this year. After that tremendous monster movie became the first foreign-language title to win the Best Visual Effects Oscar, the potential impact of “Hundreds Of Beavers” on the Oscars would be just as significant, if not more so. It could mark the beginning of further upheaval in what makes it to the Best Visual Effects Oscars conversation and change how the industry views this art form for the better by being more inclusive to projects of all sizes.
Any way you see it, “Hundreds Of Beavers“ is more than worthy of scoring a Best Visual Effects Oscar nomination (not to mention recognition in countless other Oscar categories). Still, the chances of such a well-deserved nomination coming to pass are extremely slim. That’s no reflection of the quality of “Hundreds Of Beavers,“ just an inescapable reality of it being an especially “independent“ movie. “Hundreds Of Beavers“ went to theaters through a self-distribution plan that took this unique and brilliant comedy out on the road to a handful of theaters at a time and has steadily built word of mouth since then for months on end. Understandably, the film’s distribution team has minimal resources at its disposal. So, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to wrangle the funds for a big enough “For Your Consideration“ campaign that would put “Hundreds Of Beavers“ on the Academy’s radar.
Even still, it goes without saying that “Hundreds Of Beavers“ demonstrates some of the craftiest visual effects work of 2024 so far. It doesn’t need an Oscar nomination or win for its VFX creativity to be apparent. The laughs “Hundreds Of Beavers“ generates will live on well after next year’s Oscars ceremony. Still, if the Academy really wants to shake things up – not to mention offer some correction for years of comedy movie exclusion – it’d be great to see countless beavers show up at the Oscars.
Have you seen “Hundreds Of Beavers?” If so, what did you think of it? Do you think it deserves an Oscar nomination? Do you think they could make the shortlist for Best Visual Effects? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account and be sure to check out their latest Oscar nomination predictions here.
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