Sasquatch Sunset

Granted, I had never heard about this 2024 movie titled "Sasquatch Sunset" prior to sitting down to watch it. So I didn't know what I was in for here, aside from it apparently being a comedy with sasquatches.

Well, this movie wasn't really much of a comedy, and I wasn't brought to any laughs throughout the course of the 88 minutes that the movie ran for. It was, however, a very, very unique movie. I must admit that in my many years of watching movies, then I have never actually experienced anything like what directors David Zellner and Nathan Zellner delivered here. "Sasquatch Sunset" is a movie that will find easily find a liking with everyone in the audience as it is a rather odd and unique movie experience.

You actually come to care for the sasquatches as they trek through the wilderness and you sort of form an attachment to them, basking in their accomplishments and grieving with them in their loss and sadness. And that was a nice accomplishment from writer David Zellner and performers Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Christophe Zajac-Denek and Nathan Zellner.

I must admit that I actually enjoyed watching "Sasquatch Sunset", because it was not a mainstream movie. And the fact that it wasn't a comedy didn't really matter, because the movie proved to be entertaining nonetheless.

"Sasquatch Sunset" is a visually impressive movie. I really liked the sasquatch designs, because they looked realistic and believable. Well, as realistic and believable as imaginary creatures can get. The costume designs were really good and added a lot of flavor to the movie. But not only was the costume designs good, but the entire way that the movie was shot, with the nature locations and the cinematography, that was quite aesthetic as well, adding great layers to the overall impression of the movie.

And in all my years of watching movies, I never thought I would ever see sasquatches fornicate, defecate and urinate on the screen. But here it is, in all its natural glory.

The movie only has four names on the cast list, and with Jesse Eisenberg being the only familiar name. I will say, though, that the acting performances in the movie were good, despite there being no dialogue.

If you enjoy movies that deviate from the norm and from the mainstream cinema, then you definitely should take the time to sit down and watch "Sasquatch Sunset". I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the entire movie.

My rating of "Sasquatch Sunset" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Rating: 6.1 Overall, a decent film that mimics a nature documentary as we use to lens of the camera to look into the lives of sasquatches and how they parallel humans, but this movie was not really for me because of the excessive use of bodily fluids and grotesque comedy.

Decent to Pretty Good Direction (The direction on a macroscale is pretty good as they set the scenic shots well and show the beauty in secluded nature; the direction on a microscale is decent as they get a lot out of their actors through action-based acting (because there's no dialogue); storytelling is very slice-of-life (making it feel somewhat like a documentary), but there are some moments where they try to move the story forward)), Pretty Good Acting (Pretty Good from the cast (The whole cast acted as a unit to portray Sasquatches going about their day, and showed how they do have a good amount of humanity to them)), Decent to Pretty Good Story (The concept is interesting as it's a slice of life look into sasquatches (which helps give them humanity and show parallels to humans); the plot structure is not really present as the movie tries to be mostly slice of life, while also shoving in shock and grotesque humor; flow between sequences is pretty bad as lot of the movie feels disjointed; character writing is decent as it helps show the parallels between humans and sasquatches), Decent Screenplay (the humor is pretty overt as they try super hard to shock and show grotesque subjects (with this sometimes hitting and sometimes not); the symbolism is decent as it's about looking at humanity from the lens of Sasquatch; the foreshadowing is nonexistent), Pretty Good Score (Used well in the establishing shots), Pretty Good to Good Cinematography (Used well in the scenic/nature shots as it helped make the movie seem like a documentary), Pretty Good Editing (The way they cut the movie gave it a nature doc feel), Pretty Good Sound (Helped show the actions of the characters), Decent Visual Effects (Uses Practice effects well), Pretty Good Production Design (The nature setting is nice and helps show the wilderness), Very Good Makeup (Good use of full body makeup), Makeup (Good use of full body makeup), Very Good Costumes (Good use of costumes to make the actors look like sasquatches), Costumes (Good use of costumes to make the actors look like sasquatches), Pacing is very slow as a lot of the movie drags with its elongated/repetitive scenes, Climax is decent but just feels like a continuation of the rest of the movie, Tone is very similar to nature documentaries (with some comedic flavors), This movie was really not for me with the excessive bodily fluids and grotesque scenes; saw the Texas Premiere at SXSW.

It's possible to see "Sasquatch Sunset" at an almost anthropological level, with four humanoid creatures in a series of scenes with them eating, fornicating, walking, defecating, sleeping, etc. That could be boring.

But start with the early scene of two of them chewing on grasses in an alpine meadow-- and think of it as breakfast. This is the start of their day. After that you're watching what their daily life is like, and it is familiar. Soon an interstitial title appears, "Spring," and the time scale has opened to a year. Eventually, you stop thinking about the timeline and start thinking about the fragility of existence.

There is no backstory, but the quartet is taken to be the last of their species-- and they know it. They have a signal to call for help: banging a fallen branch against a tree trunk in a series of four distinct sounds that echo through the forest. It tells us that they were once part of a clan, and a tribe, members of whom have died in the recent past. Perhaps there were five Sasquatch a year ago, or ten. Every death brings them closer to extinction, and every time their SOS isn't answered, it's a reminder that they are alone.

The movie is brilliantly structured, with credible costuming, able performances, and a score that pretty successfully mixes folk and New Age-y forms.

But my favorite parts have to do with the glimmers of intelligence and progress. We see nascent engineering skills when a log traps one of them. One member has the urge to count things, but without numbers he has trouble keeping track past two or three. At one point he holds a fossil or rock that petrified into rows of ripples, interrupted in the middle by a dark horizontal flaw. He begins counting down from the flaw, struggling to find a way to keep track, and you realize that someday he may notice there are ripples both above and below the flaw, which will require negative numbers.

But the best scene, by far, is when they happen upon a road in their forest. Do your brain a favor; see the movie.

There are some beautiful things about this film. The photography is one of them. The music is also fitting. The rest is meh.

I guess one could dig deep and try to find as many meanings as one wants into this movie and that is certainly something that we should cherish. Spoon-feeding movies are not the solution. However, I'm pretty sure we can find a balance between an on-the-nose flick and this.

It is categorized as a comedy/drama/action/adventure, depending what website you check. Truthfully, if you have the sense of humor of a 12 year old, I can see the fun in it. However it becomes old quite quickly. When it comes to the drama...I don't know? When something bad happens is because the creatures are just stupid.... And when it comes to action or adventure? The most action-like moments happen off-screen and how can there be any sense of adventure when there is no sense of purpose. Meaning, direction, discovery, and desire?

There is no momentum, there is nothing going on but eating, having sex (or trying to), and pooping. I guess these are all worthy things to explore in a film, but making a feature film out of this is a bit ridiculous. I could this being a short film from some filmmakers trying to establish their style and showcase their skills, but a feature film? What for? We had at least a dozen eating scenes and none were substantially different than the others or had any particular implication.

I still give it a 5/10 because, as mentioned at the beginning, it is a movie that looks and sounds good. Too bad there is no story or rhythm or anything going on really.

Well, I didn't actually knew what to expect, but in the end it was a quite entertaining experience.

The Zellner brothers introduced the movie to the audience at the Berlinale and said it probably is the weirdest Sasquatch movie. It is.

While some scenes are excessively obscene, we had some good laughs over the blunt portrayal of this family living in the woods. You will probably say WTF a dozen times. I understand that some people walked out of the theater. However, in my opinion, the movie manages to balance obscenity, humor and drama quite good.

Personally, I was pleasantly surprised how much story one can tell without using a single spoken word, and with only little facial expression. I believe the actors tried their best, but one could see that the costumes limited overall movement and expressions.

I would probably not pay 15 bucks again to watch the movie in a theater, but it wasn't too bad after all. A solid 7/10.