Ken and Robin Consume Media: The Killer (2024), Hundreds of Beavers, and Dench on Shakespeare
September 3rd, 2024 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
Hundreds of Beavers (Film, US, Mike Cheslik, 2022) After beavers sabotage his cider operation, trapper Jean Kayak endures epic pain and humiliation to gather enough of their pelts to marry his trading post sweetheart. Fusing the aesthetics of Chuck Jones, National Film Board of Canada animation, and Guy Maddin, this surreal, bonkers black-and-white near-wordless slapstick comedy featuring actors in plush mascot outfits easily wins the title of most Canadian film ever made by an American.—RDL
Long Live the Missus (Film, China, Hu Sang, 1947) A woman propels her husband’s business career with a few strategic white lies, only to have him take up with a gold-digging girlfriend. Cynical comedy of manners from the last moments of the short-lived Shanghai commercial movie industry. Aka Long Live the Mistress! —RDL
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent (Nonfiction, Judi Dench & Brendan O’Hea, 2024) Longtime Shakespearean actor-director O’Hea prompts Dame Judi to discuss and divagate on every Shakespeare part she’s ever played, which is most of the female roles. Lovely blend of theater reminiscence, hard-headed acting advice, and the best kind of Bardolatry.—KH
Thelma (Film, US, Josh Margolin, 2024) Stubbornly independent nonagenarian (June Squibb) evades the scrutiny of her protective family to hunt down the scammers who ripped her off, with scooter-equipped old friend (Richard Roundtree) in tow as voice of reason. Affectionate, observant indie comedy doubles as sly parody of techno-thriller tropes.—RDL
Wigs on the Green (Fiction, Nancy Mitford, 1935) An upper class office drudge, unwillingly accompanied by his charming weasel friend, head to the Cotswolds in search of heiresses to marry, setting their sights on a teen fascist nitwit. Laugh-out-loud satire of the romantic folkways and political obliviousness of the upper crust assumes the reader is capable of supplying the needed moral context.—RDL
Okay
The Killer (Film, US, John Woo, 2024) Pursued by a maverick Parisian cop (Omar Sy), a formidable assassin (Nathalie Emmanuel) protects a singer (Diana Silvers) she accidentally blinded during a hit. Reconfigures Woo’s 1989 heroic bloodshed classic by taking a handful of images and plot points and starting over, with more plot and talking, and much less momentum and melodrama.—RDL
Under Paris (Film, France, Xavier Gens, 2024) Mutant super-mako Lilith inexplicably follows traumatized marine biologist Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) to Paris, where idiot shark-simps and vaguely helpful cops get chomped around her. Paris looks nice, and I counted two effective shots, but this Netflix chum coasts on people’s love of shark cinema and nothing else.—KH
