Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, Riley Keough, Christophe Zajac-Denec  

Directed by Nathan & David Zellner

Bleecker Street, out now

Over the course of a year, a family of North American Sasquatch (aka Bigfoot) struggle to survive against the existential challenges of both nature and encroaching civilisation.

I’d seen the trailer so I knew that Sasquatch Sunset was going to be strange. I had assumed that with Jesse Eisenberg galumphing around in a shaggy Bigfoot suit, barely making any pretence as to the very human actor within, the movie was likely to be some kind of absurdist satire on human behaviour played out through the medium of grunting mythical primitives.

I was more than happy to give that a go, but to discover that the Zellner brothers have crafted one of the most affecting and memorable movies of the year so far was an unexpected delight.

It ought not to work at all. With the slick, motion-capture/CG-fest that is the latest Planet of the Apes epic still in theatres, a few largely unknown actors in hairy ape suits romping around the forests of Northern California, assisted by a mere soupçon of animatronic puppetry, and with nothing but grunts and barks for dialogue, Sasquatch Sunset ought to be a laughable disaster. They don’t even bother with the kind of primate movement coaching that underpinned 2001: A Space Odyssey or Greystoke. And yet, this isn’t an anthropomorphic metaphor at all.

Against all the odds, half an hour in, the whole cinema was entranced and absorbed. Yes, much of the first act is taken up with scratching, humping, and the discharge of pretty much every type of bodily fluid… and a good few bodily solids as well, but it’s all played with a straight face. These are the terms of reference for a lonely, dying species as unable to cope with nature (red in tooth and claw) as they are with the bewildering advance of humankind on their dwindling habitat. It’s the Sasquatch’s wordless, fatalistic bewilderment at their predicament that draws us in, like a primeval Buster Keaton being pincered by the cruelty of having reached an evolutionary dead-end.

The sight of Eisenberg’s ‘Male’ Sasquatch desperately trying – and failing – to count to more than three of anything in a world of multiplicity is both extremely funny, and desperately sad.

It’s a slow burn to start with, but stick with it. If your heart isn’t breaking at some of the disasters that befall the troupe then perhaps you need to check whether your soul has been plugged in today. And even if you can’t find that particular socket, just sit back and enjoy Michael Giolakis’s sumptuous cinematography.

Verdict: Sasquatch Sunset is a real oddity – and won’t be hanging around screens for very long – but it’s well worth seeking out if you can. 8/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com