Review of Escanaba in da Moonlight (2001) by Kenneth H — 06 Aug 2014

I don't really get this film. Yes, part of that has to do with all the references to deer hunting culture, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the not-quite-intelligible Yooper accent everyone speaks in.

But I also don't understand why what should have been a simple plot about a luckless hunter finally bagging his buck turned into this weird acid trip of a movie, with flashing lights, "aliens"/"God"/"Bearwalk" (huh?), some weird ranger coming out of nowhere and stripping/singing for no apparent reason, and, for the climax, Reuben running out into the woods in his long johns to shoot a deer, aided by the ghost of his long-dead ancestor.

(Isn't he cold? He stopped to put on a hat and gloves but not a jacket and pants?).