Well here we are, the eve of the debut of “Shooting Sasquatch.” After looking at a couple of reviews we basically know how it ends now, much like Robert Lindsay posted on his blog the other day.
But this is how the mainstream looks upon it, and how it will be judged. So again, it looks like, put up or shut up Mr. Dyer, before Matthews, blows what we all know is a hoax.
Shooting Bigfoot
Directed by Morgan Matthews
By Kevin Scott
(We haven’t seen this mug on the blog in a while)
By turns uproariously funny, disturbingly sad and downright exhilarating, Shooting Bigfoot jumps headlong into a strange subculture and emerges as an immensely rewarding entertainment. It finds a group of people so committed to proving the existence of a sasquatch that they will go to unimaginable lengths to discover any shred of evidence. Though it’s hard to identify with their methods or their logic at times, they possess such a fevered belief in the idea of giant upright creatures living in the woods that we can’t help but want to temporarily step out of the realm of reality with them.
As he follows three separate groups of hunters on trips to places where Bigfoot has supposedly been spotted, director Morgan Matthews’ British accent and skepticism naturally lend scenes a fish-out-water comic tilt. In Ohio, he joins Wayne and Dallas, who teach us that the beast apparently prefers the term sasquatch. They try to lure it out of hiding with a can of mackerel when not bellowing primal screams into the forest, occasionally pausing to listen for a reply or point to a dark spot in the trees they think it might be.
Rick Dyer, who we know is a "master tracker" because he has decaled his car with so many stickers stating this, journeys into a stretch of San Antonio woods where a homeless woman had been scared enough to dial 911 after a close call with an unidentified creature. He stakes out alone for days, becoming increasingly irritated with the light from the camera shining on him at night, as if it were exposing his failure.
The most organized of the bunch, Tom Biscardi, has a team of experienced men at his disposal, including a tracker whom he affectionately calls Youngblood and a Navy Seal named Chico. This doesn’t make him any more credible, though, having already been associated with Dyer in a 2008 hoax. A blowhard with a short fuse, he’s frequently losing his temper and overreacting to the most trivial of discoveries.
Individual scenes and lines are so funny and the characters so exaggerated yet deadpan that you’d be forgiven at times for thinking this was the newest Christopher Guest mockumentary. But then, just when you think the film is about to arrive at the obvious conclusion that these people are all delusional, there is a surprising climax that induces chills.
Whether what happens is legitimate or simply another hoax is sure to be discussed in the days to come but what’s undeniable is how effectively it rattles the rational mind and, at least for a moment, makes you wonder.
Source: http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/HotDocs/shooting_bigfoot-directed_by_morgan_matthews
Earlier last week there was this review…
Hot Docs 2013: Shooting Bigfoot and Scoring Laughs
By: Addison Wylie
The documentary Shooting Bigfoot follows three expeditions led by four different devoted and off-kilter trackers.
One subject is Rick Dyer. Dyer has had his name besmirched in the world of hunting Bigfoot due to a scam that took the media by storm. Once he finds Bigfoot, he plans to capture it and take its life.
Another hunter is Tom Biscardi, a well known tracker who has no interest in killing Bigfoot, but was involved with Dyer’s hoax. By the skin of his teeth, he was able to somewhat clear his name even if both parties have different stories. He was, and still is, a man who is passionate about the hunt for the elusive creature and will stop at nothing to prove his truths.
The last team of hunters are a couple of best friends. Dallas and Wayne may look unprepared…and that may be true. However, with their prior experience hunting the mysterious beast and their ability to “successfully” make familiar calls to it, they’re the underdogs in this truly oddball story of dedication and the line that’s drawn in the sand between hopefulness and losing your marbles.
Filmmaker Morgan Matthews doesn’t make his subjects likeable or unlikeable, but rather lets their boisterous outgoingness speak for themselves. It works because our main hunters don’t come across as false personalities. Their aggressiveness, frustration, and dedication never feels cooked up by a cheeky editor, but rather by men who are very proud and simply do not think before they speak.
Each hunter, whether they like it or not, picks their on-screen destiny. Dallas and Wayne are goofy, but a hoot to root for and follow on their surreal quest. Biscardi, on the other hand, makes for a great anti-hero. He snarls and gets flustered easily when his team isn’t on the same page as him, but we can’t help but find him interesting when he shows how focused he is to find Bigfoot and how unintentionally hilarious he is when he demands people to get him peach Snapple.
Because Matthews doesn’t tell us what to think, his direction feels natural – even though I wish he was on mic when he asked questions behind the camera. I wasn’t a fan of how the doc would take on a smart aleck attitude occasionally with its music. At one point when Dyer is explaining a past run-in with the creature, the background music swells and gets more dramatic. As I explain it, it sounds as if Matthews is trying to add more tenseness to the scene, but when you see it on screen, it feels as if Matthews doesn’t have the right intentions.
(Dyer outside his home on Oklahoma 2011)
With all the laughs, the eccentricities, and oodles of quotable lines (my personal favorite is when Biscardi is describing how long winded someone is: “You ask him for the time and he builds you a watch!”), it’s unfortunate Matthews drops the ball at the very end.
Shooting Bigfoot has a non-ending that feels as if the director’s patience wore too thin and eventually threw his hands up in the air and gave up. Once you see what happens in the surprisingly creepy last third, you’ll understand why Matthews feels resentment. However, the ending still feels too abrupt and doesn’t end the way moviegoers will want it to.
Looking past that ending – the doc’s only real noteworthy downfall – Shooting Bigfoot is a ton of fun and is strangely fascinating from start to finish.
Source: http://wyliewrites.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/hot-docs-2013-shooting-bigfoot-and-scoring-laughs/
FBFB “Authentication” Team in Canada…
Video’s have been popping all day in Canada of Foss and Larranaga posing in their Ying and Yang vests, and they seem so excited.
Foss prematurely emailed me the other day, first offering me a ticket to the show, so when it’s “proven” I would apologize.
First, if FBFB’s authentication process is so great, how the hell did they mess up the pictures of this “great monumental, world should be changing” episode?
That’s right, Foss admits, he took the picture off of Dyer’s page and what? Just made the statement that we were looking at the fire the ribs were cooked on up? Sure seems like it.
They will find some reason or another to gloat tonight, but even the critics of the film, given the history of Tighty Whitey, can’t figure it out, provided the chilling ending is Dyer at all, which I suspect it is.
If we subscribe to what Robert Lindsay posted about the film ending, then yep it seems in line with what the critics are saying.
So with no great surprise… it all comes down to Tighty Whitey producing the body, which will be accepted by mainstream science. Given the facts of the case… time to move on to something more productive.
Till Next Time,
Squatch-D
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