The Zellner Brothers direct a tale about the secret lives of a family of bigfeet, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, and opening in a handful of theaters in Boston and the ‘burbs.
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Talk about animal kingdom. Compliments of the Zellner Brothers of the sublime 2014 crackpot adventure “Kumiko, Treasure Hunter” (David directed, Nathan wrote), “Sasquatch Sunset” (both Zellners directed) is a dialogue-free, faux documentary look at a year in the life of four, uh, bigfeet played by human actors Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Christophe Zajak-Denek and Nathan Zellner.
The Bigfoot/Sasquatch figure is the subject of one of the country’s oldest, ever-more-relevant conspiracy theories. The actors are entirely unrecognizable in full-body suits, big, hairy, hobbitty feet, and hairy face masks as four Sasquatches (Sasquatchi?) on the loose in what looks like the misty mountains of the Northwest. Evoking the “wild man” and his mate in the Charlie Kaufman-scripted 2004 Michel Gondry entry “Human Nature,” the hairy ones tramp merrily along beneath a canopy of giant trees, stopping for a grunting shag between the sole female (Keough) and the unnamed male adult (Eisenberg), while the older Sasquatch (Zellner) and an apparent minor (Zajak-Denek) glumly look on. They also stop to have a rustic salad of plants plucked from bushes and lustfully munched.
Are they vegetarian abominable snowmen? Are the creatures our tall, hairy reflections, a reminder that eating, pooping, shagging, and arguing are the fundamentals of our shared biological imperatives? Puppis, ergo sum? At intervals, the hairy ones take large sticks and rhythmically pound the big trees in an apparent attempt to communicate with others of their species in the vicinity, to no avail. Sometimes, the adult males will suckle at the female’s leathery teats. The minor Sasquatch talks to his hand like that kid in “The Shining.” To the tune of a not-crazy-enough county/alt rock and orgiastic organ score by the Austin, Texas-based The Octopus Project, the Sasquatches do their thing, much of it has to do with smelling naughty bits and/or excretion in some form, for a little under 90 minutes. Like the immortal yahoos of Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” these Sasquatch also angrily throw their feces.
I will give the cast and the Zellner Bros. full credit for having a powerful vision and sticking with it. “Sasquatch Sunset” is “Quest for Fire” with mythical, humanoid “characters.” But I am only partially on board for a film with no dialogue about such creatures roaming our Great Outdoors without being seen, captured, or cruelly caught in one of the bear traps in the film.
What are we to make of the Sasquatch circle of life? Well, we get the requisite lessons about the horrors of logging and climate change. In a reference to the great, underappreciated 1971 logging drama “Sometimes a Great Notion,” based on a novel by Ken Kesey no less, and directed by Paul Newman, who also plays the lead, the elder Sasquatch has a dangerous encounter with a giant log in the water.
The film that this “oddity” resembles most at times is “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) with its prehistoric sequence, featuring dancers in man-ape disguise (some critics of the time thought these were real apes). The Sasquatches communicate in grunts, roars, hoos, and haas. They groom one another and eat the lice. They strip bark and feast on insects and maggots. They also dine on berries, salmon roe, salmon, and chicken eggs, but no red meat. They’re pesce-pollotarians? The young adult male eats a psychedelic mushroom and makes an unfortunate choice involving sexual partners.
“Sasquatch Sunset” also boasts genuine forest animals such as elk, stag, turtle, and porcupine. Be warned: The R-rated film also features a full-frontal, erect male Sasquatch. You didn’t see that on “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.” These Sasquatch bury their dead. When they hear human pop music for the first time (I believe it was disco), they are amazed at first and then fly into a completely relatable rage. “Sasquatch Sunset” is like 89 minutes of watching poorly-groomed, inarticulate, sex-crazed relatives misbehaving. It might have worked better (and shorter) as a Bjork music video.
‘Sasquatch Sunset’
Rating: R
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Christophe Zajak-Denek and Nathan Zellner
Director: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
Writer: David Zellner
Running time: 89 minutes
Where to watch: Alamo Drafthouse Boston Seaport, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, AMC South Bay, Framingham, Liberty Tree Mall, and Methuen.
Grade: B
Boston Movie News 