New to UK cinemas from today is the absurdist fantasy comedy, Sasquatch Sunset. Written by David Zellner, and directed by David and Nathan Zellner, Sasquatch Sunset stars Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, and follows the story of four nomadic sasquatches.
In the movie, an alpha male, his female mate, their child, and another adult male live in the wilderness of Northern California. The creatures spend their day exploring their surroundings and foraging for food.
As the days and the seasons pass by, the creatures encounter the harsh realities of life and death. The group reduces in size as the world continues to turn, and the mythical beasts experience the circle of life.
Oh, boy! When it comes to Sasquatch Sunset you are going to fall into one of two camps.
The first camp will include audiences who crave something different, and who will be happy to go with the flow of this film. The second will include audiences who question what the heck this movie is all about, and why it is taking up valuable time when they could be doing something else.
I have to say, I lean more toward the second camp than I do the first. While there are elements of Sasquatch Sunset which I believe are enjoyable, and the film is beautifully shot by cinematographer Michael Gioulakis, I’m not sure I’m on board the picture as a whole.
Essentially the film is 88 minutes of primative creatures eating, shouting, and fornicating. There’s no dialogue, just grunts here and there, and an occasional erection.
At one point, one of the creatures eats a poisonous mushroom, before throwing up. Another time, the group defecate and shoot breast milk onto a road.
If this is something you want to see, then this movie caters for you. If not, then you may wish to see something else, as this faux docu-film-cum-comedy is unlikely to be for you.
If the sasquatch existed, if this were a real-life nature documentary, and if I had a deep fascination with the subject matter, then I might be more interested and/or invested. Stick a running commentary over the top of this thing, with Sir David Attenborough providing some informative words, and you might get my attention, but as a feature-length film, I just don’t really see the point.
Sasquatch Sunset feels all a bit too experimental and too silly for its own good. The film’s attempts to satirise human life occasionally holds merit, but the gag runs out of steam pretty quickly, and all that’s left is endless shots of hairy beasts walking around nature.
It’s like watching a group of pissed-up Brits on a stag do in Benidorm, only bizarrely less entertaining. And if I really wanted to see that, I’d be booking a two-week all-inclusive holiday right now.
Sasquatch Sunset may be for you, but it’s certainly not for me. Give me Harry and the Hendersons any day of the week.
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