HUMAN NATURE (2001)

Cast

Plot

Ok, this is an early work from the then yet to be acknowledged/discovered as genius Charlie Kaufman. I'll do my best.....but reviewing this movie is like taping porridge to a wall. The plot revolves around the discovery of a man, apparently brought up without human contact, except his father, who also believed he was an ape. The thing is, the couple who discover him are equally strange, Nathan is a behavioural scientist obsessed with the idea of teaching table manners to mice, Lila, his lover, is a nature-and-animals sort, who, due to an hormonal anomaly, grows hair all over her body. Together they take in the monkey man and Nathan begins to teach him the ins and outs of civilised society. All sounds a bit rubbish, eh? But it's not, it's really quite good! Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette and Rhys Ifans are all suitably awkward in their rudimentary characters; Ifans can be very funny at times, especially when playing the fop. For all its obvious faults, (the plot is all over the shop), it's disarmingly naive and at times inspired. A modest-mini-masterpiece. Lots of nudity too....