Movie Review: Should you watch 'Sasquatch Sunset' about a Bigfoot family? Not yet

Do you think sasquatches snore? Come on, you know the answer deep down. Of course they do. They snore and eat loudly and pick bugs out of each other's fur and then eat those bugs loudly.

What else do sasquatches do, you ask? One of the wildest films of the year – or even the century – is about them grieving, cuddling, burying their dead, enjoying throwing stones into rivers, making art and wondering if they are alone in the world.

Still, “Sasquatch Sunset,” from filmmaker brothers David and Nathan Zellner, is a confusing 90-minute, narrative- and wordless experiment that is as daring as it is infuriating. It's not clear if everyone was high when they made it or if we were supposed to be while watching it.

Nathan Zellner, Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough and Christophe Zajac-Denek play a makeshift family of four sasquatches who get lost in hairsuits and prosthetics and communicate only through grunts, snorts and howls. They also pee a lot.

It's puzzling why the filmmakers hired such star actors instead of paying some unknowns. None of the sasquatches can do more than what one might describe as a method chimpanzee – jumping up and down, whooping and growling. A group of real chimpanzees would call out the quartet for exaggeration.

As an exercise in creating empathy for monsters, “Sasquatch Sunset” does an admirable job. When we see a Bigfoot jumping around in the middle of the first few frames – and then three more – it's clear that they're telling this story, and not the people they usually capture in shaky camera footage.

There are many moments when Sasquatches are just like us, like when one brings flowers to seduce another or when two Bigfoots comfort each other after a death. Perhaps the most poignant moments are when they hit trees together with sticks, a rhythmic question that echoes through the valley. It's a call waiting for an answer – is there anyone like us out there?

But then there's a lot of gross stuff. We mentioned peeing, but it turns out that sasquatches sneeze, reproduce loudly, and like to touch their genitals and then smell their fingers. They may also poop when necessary and discard this feces to deter predators.

A teenage Bigfoot turns his hand into a makeshift puppet and talks to it – like a nod to the child in “The Shining” – and another considers sticking his manhood into a small tree hole, like a prehistoric twist on the famous scene in ” American cake.”

Both can be true, of course: Bigfoot can be disgusting and profound at the same time. But it's not always clear what the filmmakers are going for here – satire, metaphor, sympathy, naturalism or disgusting comedy?

Revealing deeply human characteristics, the Sasquatches could be a replacement for our innocent past, a lost link in our evolution, the relentless violence of natural life, or simply the voiceless among us now. Or the filmmakers just like the image of throwing poop.

Magnificent views of pristine forests and misty valleys don't help us figure out when it's all happening, but little by little clues emerge, including hints of logging and a truly surreal piece at a human campsite set to the Erasure song “Love to Hate You.” “. .” But if the Zellners had an environmental lesson here, they blew it.

There's great music from The Octopus Project, ranging from bright electric guitar noodling to sci-fi electronic dread reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Watch through the end credits and see one of the best credits of all time in film: Sasquatch Wrangler. You don't see that every day. You don't see Sasquatch films every day, but you should let this one pass you by.

“Sasquatch Sunset,” a Bleecker Street release in some theaters April 12 and hitting theaters April 19, is rated R for “some sexual content, full nudity and bloody images.” Running time: 89 minutes. One out of four stars.

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MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Anyone under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

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Online: https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/sasquatch-sunset

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Mark Kennedy is there