As we witness birth, death, anger and joy, Sasquatch Sunset mirrors our human journey from primitive apes to the destructive yet amazing creatures we have become. It asks us to consider this journey and our relationship with the natural world that gave us life before we sought to destroy it through “progress”, “industry”, and “money.” Sasquatch Sunset is awaiting a release date.
When the indie directors David and Nathan Zellner brought us their delightful short pseudo-documentary Sasquatch Birth in 2011, we witnessed a Sasquatch (Bigfoot) giving birth to a furry infant. Thirteen years later, they are back with a feature-length movie that explores a year in the life of a Sasquatch family in Sasquatch Sunset.
You may be expecting me to talk about a ‘Harry-and-the-Hendersons’-inspired comedy, as Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, and Christophe Zajac-Denek don stunning prosthetics and grunt, clap, hoot, and howl their way through a film that sees us travel through the seasons. But while Sasquatch Sunset does have comedic charm, it’s not played for laughs.
At the heart of this unique, compelling and beautiful feature is Sasquatch Sunset’s conversations on ecological destruction, evolution, and the delicate beauty of our world. It is a film about beginnings and endings, viewed through the eyes of ancient mythical beasts facing their own sunset after humanity’s end.
As we embark on a journey through the seasons alongside a female, two adult males, and a young male Sasquatch, it’s clear that something has brought them out of hiding: a search for food, a need to explore the world they feared to enter just months before and most importantly, a search for life. It’s never clear what happened to the humans they once avoided, but plumes of smoke in the distance and the random human items they discover on their journey signify our destruction and humanity’s relentless appetite for destroying the natural world.
As they journey through the forests of the North American wilderness, our Sasquatch family interact with animals, eats wild mushrooms, and gorges on blackberries before discovering the remnants of a very human world: logged trees with red markers, a tarmac road viewed by our Sasquatches as an impossible solid river and discarded camping equipment that introduces them to new tastes.
The Sasquatch communicate with each other throughout, using their hands, sticks, voices, and body language to convey fear, arousal, joy, and panic. They are evolving before our eyes, as one attempts to count past four and another talks to the trees and seeks answers from the sky above. This leads us to question whether the disaster that removed humans is an opportunity for the Sasquatch to evolve or their final journey, with their numbers too few to survive.
As we witness birth, death, anger and joy, Sasquatch Sunset mirrors our human journey from primitive apes to the destructive yet amazing creatures we have become. It asks us to consider this journey and our relationship with the natural world that gave us life before we sought to destroy it through “progress”, “industry”, and “money.” It asks if these human impulses to destroy will lead to our undoing sooner rather than later, yet speaks of a world that will continue to turn long after we are gone.
The Sasquatch may be primitive, even funny when seen through our eyes, but they are a part of the natural world around them and understand its importance in the birth, maintenance and end of life. In that sense, these mythical creatures are far more advanced than us, and that’s the message at the heart of David and Nathan Zellner’s film. Progress is good; evolution is natural, but the willful destruction of the hand that feeds you is unforgivable.
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