Too Many Beasts-Fantastic Fest Review

Recently, while killing time on the internet, I came across a story about the rise of wild boars and feral hogs across the United States. It seems they’re a mix of domestic farm pigs and imported Eurasian wild boars, and they’re wreaking havoc. With no real natural predators, the endgame does not look good. So needless to say, when Sarah Arnold’s Too Many Beasts started and the overpopulation of wild boars was central to the story, I instantly became more invested—all because I read something somewhere.

Somewhere in the French countryside, a war is brewing between hunters and farmers because of the excessive number of wild boars running around. One farmer, Brun (Jean-Louis Coulloc’h), has had enough, and after he ends up killing someone, he disappears.

One year later, Brun still hasn’t been found, and the local police have added Sergeant Orsini (Alexis Manenti) to the force. There just happens to be new sightings of Brun, which immediately piques Orsini’s interest in the old case. Orsini didn’t come to this place of his own free will. He’s brokenhearted and was demoted after beating one of his fellow officers.

Adding to the intrigue is Stéphane Danjir (Ella Rumpf), a therapist hired to help contain the instability at the station. But the case remains front and center, and Orsini is starting to believe it may not be meant to be solved. The word around town is that the political leadership is fattening up the boars so wealthy clients can hunt them more easily. As more dead boars start turning up on the lawns of the wealthy, Orsini is tasked with finding out if Brun has indeed returned. With the help of Danjir, who might be the only other person in town who hasn’t been bought, he starts digging into what is really going on.

Written by Jérémine Dubois and Sarah Arnold, with Arnold also directing, Too Many Beasts is not just a crime thriller, but also a dark, satirical comedy. This isn’t your standard police mystery. It’s also a look at humanity’s fragile relationship with nature, as well as how capitalism can affect both our relationships with one another and our relationship with the natural world. I know, it all sounds so serious, but the plot gets a little crazier from there. Orsini and Danjir are drawn into some pretty wacky situations that help lighten some of the heavier subject matter.

Too Many Beasts is as funny as it is interested in saying something about what’s going on in the world today. With her feature debut, Arnold shows she knows how to navigate different tones. Nothing feels out of place, and every shift feels natural within the story’s flow. Arnold delivers enough surprises to keep things interesting, and thanks to some great character actors, this strange little world and the people who inhabit it feel authentic.

One of the film’s highlights is the performances of Rumpf and Manenti. Together, they complement each other extremely well. Not only are they compelling characters, but they’re also the source of some of the movie’s biggest laughs as they clash with the absurd reality around them.

In a world where wild boars are becoming an actual problem, it seems like the perfect time for a crime thriller centered around them. With Too Many Beasts, Arnold delivers a well-crafted story with a personality all its own—and one that ends up being a highly entertaining film.