6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Charlie Kaufman shares his thoughts on "Human Nature", October 18, 2004
There is a point to what happens in "Human Nature," but the key things to remember are that (a) the point will never be made explicitly and (b) the point is up to the beholder. So if you need your points clearly and sharply made, then this film written by Charlie Kaufman is gong to befuddle you as much as anything he has ever written. Since that includes "Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation," "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," that would be a lot of befuddlement.
This film begins with the revelation that Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins) is dead, courtesy of a small round bullet hole in his forehead, and somewhere in the afterlife in a room where everything is white. In prison is Lila Jute (Patricia Arquette), and testifying before some Congressional committee is a nattily dressed but strangely bearded man named Puff (Rhys Ifans). Apparently there are issues about being "sorry" that this film will explain, but first we have to get up to speed on how this strange collection of characters came to be strange.
When Lila was 12 years old her hormones caused hair to grow all over her body. Tired of being "Queen Kong" in a side show she goes off into the wild, writes a best selling book with a disparaging view of humanity, and, tired of shaving all over all the time, uses the money to have electrolysis to try and remove her hair. Louise (Rosie Perez), who is doing the electrolysis, thinks she knows a guy who would be perfect for Lila. This would be Nathan.
Nathan is a scientist. As a boy he was taught the importance of table manners by his mother (Mary Kay Place) and father (Robert Forster). Failure to use the right fork for eating his salad meant the young boy was sent to his room without supper. So it is not surprising that today he is busy teaching a pair of white mice table manners. As he explains to Lila, if he can teach table manners to white mice, then he can teach table manners to human beings, which would result in ushering in a golden age of good manners and civility. Helping him in his lab work is the apparently smitten Gabrielle (Miranda Otto), who has decided the best way to come on to Nathan is to use a fake French accent. Despite never having learned the correct film to use from either the wild or the dinner scene in "Titanic," Lila and Nathan begin to go out together. The key to understanding Nathan is to know his simple mantra: "Remember, when in doubt, you should never do what you truly want to do."
One day Lila and Nathan are out in the wood and they come up the feral creature that they bring back to civilization to study. Gabrielle gets the honor of naming the creature and picks "Puff." Nathan goes is not only to teach him about the silverware in a formal dinner setting but all other aspects of high culture. He also wants to stop Puff from humping slide projections of sexy women, and in all of these endeavors uses the same shock aversion therapy that has worked so well with the two white mice (who do the best scene stealing by mice since the original "Babe"). But while Nathan is turning Puff from the Naked Ape into a sophisticated, debonair, man about town, he is torn between Gabrielle and Lila. As for Puff, he would pretty much like to have whoever is left.
I would say that there are competing love triangles in "Human Nature" except that I am pretty sure Lila is the only one capable of love rather than lust. But, of course, what these characters do is not as important as why they do it. The problem is that since the characters do not seem to know why they are doing what they are doing, that makes it a bit difficult for us. Nathan is always a step behind and Gabrielle goes whichever way the wind is blowing. Lila is the most honest of the bunch, which means she is doomed, and Puff is caught in all of the middles of the circumstances developed in the film. Puff also gets most of the good lines, from pointing out at the start that being raised by a man who thinks he is an ape is pretty much the same as actually being raised by apes to his recognition of a stage that exists before a beloved teacher takes a student from crayons to perfume.
I missed this film when it was first released but checked it out because I discovered after watching "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" that there was a movie scripted by Charlie Kaufman that I had missed. Certainly "Human Nature" is the least of the films that I have mentioned here, but it is still indicative of the creative quirkiness that has made Kaufman's reputation. I like films that make me think, even if I am not sure I am necessarily thinking what the film intends for me to be thinking in the end. What I do know in this case is that the joke in "Human Nature" is on human beings, but then that usually is the case when you bring nature into the equation.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must See!, December 12, 2002
While Hollywood continues to pump out uninteresting, action packed, technologically expensive fodder....movies that do nothing for you but leave you lighter in the pocketbook.........there comes along a group of directors who challenge the way you view films and think about them. Michel Gondry is one of them. He is a very creative director with tons of music videos to his credit. He has done music videos for artists such as Radiohead, Bjork, and Cibo Matto. If you've ever seen any of his work, you will know what I am referring to. He does not come up short with this film. If you enjoy watching films that entertain the mind, this film is a must see. I have been waiting a long time to see Human Nature and it was well worth the wait. This is instantly one of my favorite films. Rent it or buy it when you have the chance. --Other films that I recommend: 1. One Hour Photo by Mark Romanek -2. CQ by Roman Coppola -3. Sexy Beast by Jonathan Glazer -4. The Virgin Suicides by Sophia Coppola - & 5. Donnie Darko by Richard Kelly
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