Sasquatch Sunset – Dir: David & Nathan Zellner: NZIFF 13th Floor Film Review

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Sasquatch Sunset is an absurdist feature dramedy that follows a family of sasquatches in their North American habitat over the span of a year. If you were to read the plot on paper, you would probably think the film is absolutely bonkers, but somehow it just works (despite the absence of dialogue!).

Starring: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Nathan Zellner

SasquatchBeautiful, poetic, funny, eerie, clever, dark, cerebral, emotional, feminist, slightly uncomfortable and at times harrowing, it is daring and dynamic in its scope, inviting introspection on the fragility of life (and its seasons), the harshness and frailty of the environment, the patriarchy, Darwinism, knowledge is/as power, and arguably interrogates the way humans might behave if we didn’t live in “polite society”.

Much like humans, the sasquatches are multifaceted. They are cute, silly, sensitive, staunch, stern, at times ugly and everything in between – a reminder that we are never just one thing, both as individuals or as a collective (human) species! The movie’s colour palettes are also worth noting; they are intentional, deliberate; lush greens and browns representing the natural world, and the oranges and reds alerting us to something more sinister and synthetic – the man made world. (And perhaps a nod to the signs we have all around us that we sometimes ignore or can’t make out until they’re staring us right in the face?)

I’m sure I’m not alone in my praise when I say that I would recommend this film to almost anyone. I enjoyed sharing the experience with such a highly receptive audience who were audibly responsive and at times absolutely roaring with laughter. It just goes to show what can be achieved with a strong story and the conviction to back it.

Shamin Yazdani

NZIFF tickets and showtimes here.

Shamin Yazdani
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