While this summer’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will certainly tout its lifelike visual effects, if you are looking for a realistic depiction of creatures in the wilderness, the Zellners certainly have the big-budget blockbuster beat. With the dialogue-free Sasquatch Sunset, starring Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, and Nathan Zellner as a Bigfoot family in Northern California, we witness a year in the life of their journey. Ahead of an April release from Bleecker Street, along with stops at Berlinale and SXSW, the first trailer and poster have now arrived for the Ari Aster-backed film.
I said in my Sundance review, “Life in the wilderness––breathing in the mountain air, basking in the sun, and foraging for the perfect meal––can also be punishing and unforgiving. Particularly if you are a Sasquatch family. This simple premise is the foundation of David and Nathan Zellner’s most experimental gamble yet, Sasquatch Sunset, which captures a year in the Sasquatch way of life. Set in the vast expanse of Northern California––not far from where the infamous Patterson–Gimlin film was shot––we witness the circle of life for these creatures in all their birth, playfulness, territorial drive, fornication, and death. The result is almost exactly what one may expect from the logline––with perhaps a bit more bodily fluids and Sasquatch phalluses––and while it’s impressive that the Zellners stay steadfast in their conceit, one wishes the overall effect added up to something with a bit more impact.”
See the trailer and poster below.
Sasquatch Sunset opens in theaters on April 12 and expands wide on April 19.