RATS!

 

Rats! fits in perfectly with movies like Repo Man, Tapeheads or even Dude Where’s My Car? (judge all you want but that movie is funny). The basic plots are all similar on a surface level – an aimless stoner gets caught up in a plot involving guns, murder, nukes and/or bombs, aliens, the FBI or a close combination of everything in the case of Rats! After getting busted for tagging, a young punk/graffiti writer (“Raphael”) is used as a pawn by a crooked police officer to go undercover to try and bust his cousin who may be in possession of nukes. These nukes are just the tip of the iceberg as we’re exposed to one absurd semi-connected event after another.

On the most surface of levels, Rats! is the type of movie to be compared to the work of someone like Harmony Korine because of all the vulgarity, randomness, occult imagery and connections to death metal. But, the more you watch Rats! the more you’ll find it pulls from recognizable sources like Spielberg, DePalma, Tarantino and Lynch (at this point in time, what movie doesn’t).

Crrie / Jaws / Rats!

Reservoir Dogs / Rats!

Blue Velvet / Rats!

Un Chien Andalou / Blue Velvet / Rats!

I doubt Wild Style played a part in the development of this movie, but the graffiti element made me think Zoro and his tagging...

Wild Style / Rats!

If you’re looking for a contemporary comparison, this falls in line with the films of Joel Potrykuys (we cover Potrykus’ work a lot on this blog). The opening scene of Rats! Is very similar in tone to the opening scene of Potrykus’ Ape (both directors are also very reference-heavy so the connection makes even more sense). I doubt Rats! director Carl Fry is familiar with Potrykus but it’s interesting to me how both of their movies start with an aimless small town youth tagging up their town as a way to show rebellion.

 

Ape / Rats!

Rats! plays out like something made by the little brother of an old gen-xer. Someone who never actually saw a full episode of Pete & Pete or you can’t do that on television, but instead they heard about it from their older sibling and watched a couple of clips on youtube for context (based on everything I’ve said so far, it should come as no surprise that this movie relies heavily on nostalgia). Rats! is also the perfect movie to share with someone who loves to complain about things being too “woke”. The type of movie that disproves the whole; “you could NEVER make a movie like THIS today” or “everyone is SO easily offended”. At times you’ll find yourself questioning if this movie is completely satirical, completely offensive in a rebellious immature teenager kind of way, or a combination of the two. I’m still not completely sure but I do know that this movie is genuine and has heart. I’ll need to watch it a few more times but after my first viewing I can say I enjoyed it very much. I wouldn’t blindly recommend this to most people because there is a lot of gratuitous vulgarity and senseless violence. But if you don’t mind that kind of stuff and are looking for a surreal, fun and sometimes uncomfortable 79 minutes – this might something you’d enjoy.

10 RARE MOVIES THAT BELONG IN THE BLACK FILM CANON

 

I recently wrote a piece on Okayplayer.com about potentially updating the Black film canon. 

Click here or the image above to go to the article.

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS

I was put on to this film at a very peculiar time. After a recent podcast appearance I found myself rethinking & second-guessing how I feel about intentional movie references & homages. I know I just said this in my previous post on Nickel Boys but in 2024 alone we got so many films that relied heavily on visual callbacks. Between new releases like The Substance (click here & here to see all the key homages), Cuckoo (The Brood), In A Violent Nature (click here & here to see all the homages I compiled), Longlegs (Silence Of The Lambs), Rebel Ridge (First Blood & Billy Jack), Nosferatu (beside it being a second remake, Eggers references Possession) and more – filmmakers seem to be focused more on pulling from the past or shouting out their cinematic heroes and less invested in trying something new & innovative. I’m starting to wonder if new releases were nothing more than mixtapes/compilations?

I say all this to say that while Hundreds Of Beavers is interesting, it’s also very much an homage-style movie. But I liked it! A lot! In fact – this movie is an homage of other homages. Hundreds Of Beavers is from the school of Guy Maddin who is a very reference-heavy director himself. He may not pay homage to more recognizable sources in the way Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez does, but Maddin’s films are almost always layered with tons of references & callbacks to folks like Bunuel, Murnau, Fritz Lang, Dreyer & David Lynch. This means that by proximity, Hundreds of Beavers is also inspired by those older filmmakers. I think that’s part of the reason why I like this movie so much. Had this film referenced anyone else I would have probably written it off but Guy Maddin is one of my favorite filmmakers and I kind of appreciate that we’ve come to a point where he’s a reference point. It’s about time he get shown the type of respect I think he’d appreciate (I would hope a reference-heavy filmmaker like Guy Maddin would appreciate being referenced himself by a younger filmmaker). Underrated, misunderstood & unsung are often overused to described artists but in the case of Guy Maddin I think these descriptors are fair. The art scene Maddin that came up in is rooted in references. He came to prominence alongside fellow reference-heavy filmmaker John Paizs (click here & here to read more about my love for Paizs).

I just felt like I was good friends with Luis Buñuel just because I watched his movies so often – Guy Maddin, thefilmstage

Un Chien Andalou / / Tales From The Gimli Hospital

As strange as Eraserhead is, it is a very honest portrait of personal...[pauses] When I saw that movie I didn’t need to know that David Lynch had been through an unplanned pregnancy and that he had stuck around long enough to see the baby through its infancy and … it was pretty exciting to me to see someone pull off a real tug-of-war but not just a two way tug-of-war, but one in so many different directions you couldn’t even count them. And that to me is pretty inspiring. So, I’ve always used Eraserhead and the Buñuel movies not as atmospheric role-models, I like the atmospheres in them, but I just like what they pull off psychologically with what is really broad strokes and really big gestures. It gets really baroque, gross at times, but still achieves moods and flavours of moods in your soul – unease, pleasure, excitement – that seems to be running very quickly through the inventory of all the things you feel in the course of a year, but you can get them in one 90 minute experience. That is really exciting to me, that art can do that. Lynch has fine tuned it over the years so that things are more sophisticated so that now you are really wondering where these feelings are coming from and stuff like that. The strokes aren’t as broad, but the… I don’t know why I keep talking about Lynch, but he is kind of doing what painting has been doing for years, and I’m not saying that his images are painterly, but that he is doing with narrative what painting does – Guy Maddin, Screenanarchy.com

Eraserhead / Tales From The Gimli Hospital

I just thought if I had that Guy Maddin style – that grainy 16mm look – mixed with my brand of humor, it would make for a unique movie. Because usually it’s one or the other. Comedies, especially nowadays, they’re not very sophisticated. It’s two guys standing in a room. Single shot. Single shot. Single shot. Let’s improvise – Mike Cheslik, onmilwaukee.com

My Winnipeg / Hundreds Of Beavers

We like Guy Maddin and Guy Maddin seems to like us! Definite influence. Mike Cheslik has seen all of his films  – Kurt Ravenwood, reddit

The Heart Of The World / Hundreds Of Beavers

The Saddest Music In The World / Hundreds Of Beavers

Careful / Hundreds Of Beavers

Cowards Bend The Knee / Hundreds Of Beavers

Careful / Hundreds Of Beavers

Tales From The Gimli Hospital / Hundreds Of Beavers

Tales From The Gimli Hospital / Hundreds Of Beavers

This isn’t the first time that Mike Cheslik pulled from the cinema of Guy Maddin… 

Right before I had the idea for "Lake Michigan Monster," I watched "Brand Upon the Brain" from Guy Maddin. And that was a big inspiration because obviously that’s in the same kind of visual style, but also because it took place on an island with a lighthouse and there were scenes on a lake – Mike Cheslik, onmilwaukee.com

Brand Upon The Brain / Lake Michigan Monster

The story & themes also owe a lot to Maddin. Putting aside the old timey silent film aesthetic, Hundreds of Beavers plays out like a Guy Maddin film. The story, which puts a major emphasis on the continent of North America in the dead of winter, deals with a fur trapper battling the elements and other subconscious sexual perversions during the 19th century. Those of you that are familiar with Maddin’s work can't deny that on paper this could easily be one of his own films (to be clear – Maddin did not invent the derivate style that he’s known for. He might be one of the best to do it but he doesn’t own it). Another non-visual Maddin-ism that looms over Hundreds Of Beavers is the budget. Mike Cheslik utilizes his imagination to make the best of his small budget in the same way Maddin has for almost 40 years.

The emphasis on the mascot suits, the appreciation for silent comedy gags and making the story seem big on such a small budget is all success in my book. I guess my only criticism/question is; will Mike Cheslik continue to associate himself with Guy Maddin or will he try to eventually shake the comparison?