Sasquatch Sunset Is So Gross that People Are Walking Out
David Zellner, well-known in small film circles, has released his latest film, and it seems to be the most visceral to date. Sasquatch Sunset, a movie about a family of four sasquatches roaming a North American forest, has so many scenes filled with every body fluid imaginable that when the beasts unleash all their fluids on a paved road, viewers have finally had enough and walk out.
Follows A Family Of Big Foots
Sasquatch Sunset is set to release in theaters to wider audiences on April 19, but it’s already making the rounds at film festivals, and film critics across the board have a love/hate relationship with this art project.
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, writer and director David Zellner himself, and Christophe Zajac-Denek, the movie is ostensibly a darkly comedic take on the encroachment of humanity on nature. The four sasquatches in this film are personifications of nature in Sasquatch Sunset.
Familial Bonds
Zellner stands as the aggressive alpha male, the older brother figure to Eisenberg’s character. Both males vie for the attention of Keough’s sasquatch, but she seems to clearly favor Eisenberg’s gentler primate-like figure than the harsh brutality of Zellner’s alpha male. Zajak-Denek plays the younger, more carefree of the four, with Eisenberg also taking part in the joyful play and interest in the world around him.
Audiences follow this family of four through a year of wandering, with Keough’s character becoming pregnant and the family awaiting the birth of the newest addition.
Gross Out Humor
In many ways, the movie, written and directed by Zellner and his brother, Nathan Zellner, plays like a nature documentary, except that there is no voiceover, no narration, and no dialogue. Instead, we are left to guess what each grunt, screech, and moan means through context, expression, and body movement. This is all well and good until the darkly comedic stuff enters the scene.
Sasquatch Sunset, for some, has far too many scenes that make it feel like a 12-year-old boy created them. We are treated to all the instincts and interplays inherent in nature that we typically get to miss in nature films. The family mates, eats, defecates, and pees with abandon, and it is just too much for some more squeamish viewers.
Not For Those With Weak Stomachs
As the family advances through the forest, they encounter a mountain lion, and the oldest brother attempts to mate with it, to disastrous results. In another scene, the sasquatches come across a campground with a cassette tape, evidence of human encroachment. Later, they happen upon a paved road, which enrages them so much they begin to release all possible body fluids.
At this point, festival-goers reached the end of their patience with the movie and fled the scene.
Still, for those able to remain in their seats and seek insight from Sasquatch Sunset, there are endearing and cautionary moments as well. It leaves many reviewers considering the role of humans in nature, asking whether we have wandered too far afield, and wondering whether there is any hope for the salvation of said nature.
Thought-Provoking Meditation On Man’s Relationship With Nature And Also Poop
It is also worth pondering whether we ourselves are those sasquatches, whether we are nearing the end of our time on Earth, as we bring about our own demise thanks to advancing technology that may now be out of our hands.
Jesse Eisenberg calls Sasquatch Sunset “a labor of love for everyone involved.” So, it’s probably a good idea for any serious film fan to, at the very least, check it out. And if you can make it past the paved road, perhaps consider your own emotions around advancing technology.
