Sasquatch Sunset – A Simplistic Yet Imaginative Creature Comedy

In recent years, Hollywood has come under scrutiny for seemingly doubling down on reboots and sequels of existing properties or even worse, delivering homogenized storytelling efforts that appear to require very little effort if at all. But every once in a while, something of note seems to slip through its cracks, offering a uniquely packaged vision that skirts any overly followed trends. Sasquatch Sunset is exactly one of those uniquely focused products.

Sasquatch Sunset is written and directed by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, and Christophe Zajac-Denek. The trio of David and Nathan Zellner and Eisenberg carry over some of the humor and dry wit of one of their previous projects, The Art of Self Defense, which helps focus the exact sharpness of their latest project. In other words, fans of the former will know exactly what they are in for while those that have not discovered it yet are in for some real surprises.

The story follows a sasquatch family over the course of a year as they live deep in the North American forests. It humorously displays their absurd and awkward interactions with each other and nature as they continue to survive. Even without dialogue, the film successfully evokes senses of empathy, anger, or disgust through its unflinching exploration of all phases of life from their perspectives, oscillating between both comical and sad. But before any of this, the film almost seems to test its audience by placing its characters into certain ludicrous scenes as if to gauge the one’s commitment in whether or not they understand what its full scope will be. To be fair, it is a feature-length film centering around sasquatches and there should be some suspension of belief that follows. It’s at this point that it truly expands and ventures into some masterfully hilarious moments, such as forage-induced drug trips, sexual intercourse mishaps, accidental death, hand puppets (not a typo), and the sasquatches’ way of life clashing with humankind all occur within its remaining runtime, leaving audiences in a peculiar place of rooting for the creatures’ survival although simultaneously understanding just how improbable that will be in the midst of humans.

The direction of the Zellners is a solid effort overall that frequently relies on a mockumentary view of the creature’s everyday lives, but their expertise and maturity are seen through the choices and use of close-ups in key moments in order to emote the correct feelings of the scene from the actors. This creates an emotional investment in the family unit without a word ever having to be spoken. Eisenberg, Keough, Zajac-Denek, and Nathan Zellner (who also appears as a member of the family) all look to understand their assignments as they give unencumbered and playful performances through their physical gestures and various sounds, whereas other actors could easily falter with this task. It’s these decisions that serve as the story’s crux and ushers audiences through each scene so well that it will leave many wanting to know more.

In the end, Sasquatch Sunset will not be for everyone, and for those who never see it, it should be at least appreciated from afar as it is living proof that Hollywood and the powers that be are still capable of greenlighting uniquely original projects. To that end, it is one of the most eccentric films released this year and is both a fun and interesting experience. For those looking for a truly distinctive experience, look no further for there is a lot to be entertained by with this simplistic and imaginative portrayal of a sasquatch family.

still courtesy of levelFilm

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Critics w/o Credentials

Trying my best to get all thoughts about TV and Film out of my head and onto the interweb.