SASQUATCH SUNSET
(director: David and Nathan Zellner; screenwriter: David Zellner; cinematographer: Mike Gioulakis; editors: David Tarr, David and Nathan Zellner David; music: The Octopus Project; cast: Riley Keough (female), Jesse Eisenberg (male), Nathan Zellner (horny guy), Christophec-Denek Zaja (child); Runtime: 90; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Lars Knudsen, Tyler Campellone, and Nathan Zellner, George Rush, David Harari, Jesse Eisenberg; Square Peg/Bleecker Street; 2024)
“Disappointing gross-out slapstick comedy.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The brothers David and Nathan Zellner, creators of offbeat shorts, with David as writer and Nathan as actor, co-direct this disappointing gross-out slapstick comedy (too many farting and dick jokes, and a comedy that induces zero laughs) about life with an imaginary Bigfoot family living in a forest in the Pacific Northwest.
For a year, a Sasquatch tribal family of- Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, and their child Christophec-Denek Zaja, and a member of their tribe, Nathan Zellner- come under scrutiny while leading a routine life living off the land. They are made unrecognizable, looking like primitive creatures, communicate by grunts and gestures, and chow down on things like ferns. There is no dialogue (the script could have been written by Bigfoot), but the nature photography by DP Mike Gioulakis is awesome.
The film is divided into 4 chapters, titled after the seasons.
What the film is good at is creating wacky scenarios that leave you wondering what it’s about so you stay for the end. What it’s not good at is telling a compelling story. Before half-time it becomes tiresome and will encourage walkouts from those who gave up on it.
Its comedy scenes have a horny Nathan make unwanted sexual advances on Riley, who is partnered with Jesse.
The film comes across as a bad nature film. It left me wishing to see a legit nature documentary instead of this weird one.
It played at the Sundance Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 2/4/2024 GRADE: C-