Sasquatch Sunset, directed by the adventurous duo David and Nathan Zellner, offers an extremely unique, absurd, and polarizing cinematic experience. This is an experimental film that takes us on a year-long journey into the lives of a singular Sasquatch family, capturing their mundane daily routines that make for a very long, boring, and bizarre viewing experience.
The Zellner brothers, known for their contributions to the Sundance catalog, including films like Damsel and Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, delivered a cringe-worthy movie that had audience members walking out of the theater in droves as the film played out.
I decided to watch Sasquatch Sunset with pure curiosity, driven by the buzz it was generating at the Sundance Film Festival. However, my experience with the film left me… well, baffled. Watching this movie was a waste of time, but I stayed through the whole thing just to see how this ridiculous story came to an end.
Sasquatch Sunset stands as one of the most bewildering and purposeless films I’ve ever witnessed. Despite the evident hard work put into its creation, it seemed like an exercise in futility. The movie delves into explicit themes, including Bigfoot sex, lots of defecation, and the birth of a baby Bigfoot. While it attempts to capture something, it failed to resonate with me, leaving me with a sense of… what in the hell am I watching? Within’ the first ten minutes of the movie I asked myself, what in the hell did I get myself into?
The film stars Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough and they are both covered in Bigfoot makeup from head to toe, and you can’t even tell that it’s them. One might question the decision to cast well-known actors in such roles when their talents remain hidden behind makeup. The filmmakers could have cast a few average Joe nobodies off the street and you would’ve never known the difference.
There’s also no dialogue in the movie. Every interaction is conveyed through grunts, yells, and hand gestures. One might question the decision to cast well-known actors in such roles when their talents remain hidden behind masks. It’s undeniable that this film didn’t fully utilize their acting abilities. Casting unknowns might have achieved the same result.
Over the course of the film, the people who stayed loudly expressed their disdain for the film, questioning its purpose, and wondering why it was made in the first place.
I may not have all the answers, but one thing is clear: Sasquatch Sunset is a divisive and seemingly pointless movie. However, it might find a niche audience among those who might enjoy observing a Sasquatch family wandering through the wilderness. This film is undoubtedly an acquired taste, and whether it finds some kind of cult following remains to be seen. But, there were people at the festival who seemed to like it, which was just as baffling to me.
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