April 18, 2024
FILM: SASQUATCH SUNSET
DIRECTED BY: DAVID ZELLNER, NATHAN ZELLNER
STARRING: JESSE EISENBERG, RILEY KEOUGH, CHRSTOPHE ZAJAC-DENEK
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
One of the films that made my Top Ten of 2015, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, was a very unusual story of an Asian young woman who heads to Minneapolis to find the bag of money left behind in the film Fargo. Watching the story unfold is to be taken into the unique perspective of a character who really believes in her strange journey. The brothers behind that film, David and Nathan Zellner, are back with another one that takes us into the mindset of characters who are also on a journey of discovering the world around them. Oh, and, they are also Sasquatches…
Sasquatch Sunset follows this family of Sasquatches in Northern California. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough who are, like each of the actors (including Nathan Zellner), playing Sasquatches. If you are unfamiliar with what this means, think gorillas meets Big Foot. As such they are in full costume for the entirety of their time on screen. They’re hairy with exposed breasts and penises. They also don’t speak any recognizable language rather they grunt and yelp for most of the film. There is no one other than Sasquatches here so it’s a bit like watching silent movie characters.
Clearly, this is another unusual story from the Zellners. What makes it interesting are the perspectives of the Sasquatches on the world in which they live and travel. Like humans, they seek the satisfaction of certain Earthly needs such as shelter, sleep, food, and sex. They also deal with competition from the rest of the animal kingdom and temptation. They’re also inquisitive explorers who experience some of the same things we all do: death and a fear that their life might be threatened.
We are with them as they venture through the woody landscape. At first we don’t really know what the actual time period is. The opening of the film features a musical score and landscape images that suggest Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Is this the past? Later there are indications that we may be in the present or some sort of dystopian future. However, we always remain within the perspective of the Sasquatches, knowing only what they know and what they are learning. It’s an interesting approach to try understanding certain primitive perspectives on life.
While the film is billed as an action/adventure/comedy, it’s a bit more subdued than all that. There are actually some pretty dramatic and poignant moments throughout much of the narrative. Still, there are some laughs as we, along with other members of the animal kingdom, watch the couple played by Eisenberg and Keough have, for instance, some pretty raw sex. It’s also a bit funny watching them contemplate the universe and nature by attempting to count the numbers of stars in the sky and the rings on a tree stump while repeatedly losing track of what they’re doing since they don’t really have a number system. Perhaps they have the same problems with concentration as a lot of us do.
The actors are completely unrecognizable in these roles. There are a few moments here and there when we might think we’re watching their individual personalities come through, but these are pretty rare. You’d never know you were watching Eisenberg or Keough.
Sasquatch Sunset is the kind of film one has to surrender themselves to in order to really appreciate what the Zellners are trying to do. There is not a traditional plot or a clear resolution here. Rather, the experience is one to dive into purely from the perspective of these wandering Sasquatches with some recognizable qualities but a bit adrift in an uncertain world.
Sasquatch Sunset opens theatrically this week.
FILM: SASQUATCH SUNSET
DIRECTED BY: DAVID ZELLNER, NATHAN ZELLNER
STARRING: JESSE EISENBERG, RILEY KEOUGH, CHRSTOPHE ZAJAC-DENEK
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
One of the films that made my Top Ten of 2015, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, was a very unusual story of an Asian young woman who heads to Minneapolis to find the bag of money left behind in the film Fargo. Watching the story unfold is to be taken into the unique perspective of a character who really believes in her strange journey. The brothers behind that film, David and Nathan Zellner, are back with another one that takes us into the mindset of characters who are also on a journey of discovering the world around them. Oh, and, they are also Sasquatches…
Sasquatch Sunset follows this family of Sasquatches in Northern California. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough who are, like each of the actors (including Nathan Zellner), playing Sasquatches. If you are unfamiliar with what this means, think gorillas meets Big Foot. As such they are in full costume for the entirety of their time on screen. They’re hairy with exposed breasts and penises. They also don’t speak any recognizable language rather they grunt and yelp for most of the film. There is no one other than Sasquatches here so it’s a bit like watching silent movie characters.
Clearly, this is another unusual story from the Zellners. What makes it interesting are the perspectives of the Sasquatches on the world in which they live and travel. Like humans, they seek the satisfaction of certain Earthly needs such as shelter, sleep, food, and sex. They also deal with competition from the rest of the animal kingdom and temptation. They’re also inquisitive explorers who experience some of the same things we all do: death and a fear that their life might be threatened.
We are with them as they venture through the woody landscape. At first we don’t really know what the actual time period is. The opening of the film features a musical score and landscape images that suggest Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Is this the past? Later there are indications that we may be in the present or some sort of dystopian future. However, we always remain within the perspective of the Sasquatches, knowing only what they know and what they are learning. It’s an interesting approach to try understanding certain primitive perspectives on life.
While the film is billed as an action/adventure/comedy, it’s a bit more subdued than all that. There are actually some pretty dramatic and poignant moments throughout much of the narrative. Still, there are some laughs as we, along with other members of the animal kingdom, watch the couple played by Eisenberg and Keough have, for instance, some pretty raw sex. It’s also a bit funny watching them contemplate the universe and nature by attempting to count the numbers of stars in the sky and the rings on a tree stump while repeatedly losing track of what they’re doing since they don’t really have a number system. Perhaps they have the same problems with concentration as a lot of us do.
The actors are completely unrecognizable in these roles. There are a few moments here and there when we might think we’re watching their individual personalities come through, but these are pretty rare. You’d never know you were watching Eisenberg or Keough.
Sasquatch Sunset is the kind of film one has to surrender themselves to in order to really appreciate what the Zellners are trying to do. There is not a traditional plot or a clear resolution here. Rather, the experience is one to dive into purely from the perspective of these wandering Sasquatches with some recognizable qualities but a bit adrift in an uncertain world.
Sasquatch Sunset opens theatrically this week.