Human Nature | Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans | Are we moving forward or backward?

Human Nature | Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans | Weird, Different, but Interesting!! VERY ORIGINAL MOVIE!!

DVDs:

Human Nature

	Human Nature Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans New Line Home Entertainment, 2004 average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/10/2005 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R

Are we moving forward or backward?

Males outwardly act to build a "civilization" based on repressing urges, secretly yearn to return to nature, yet ultimately do whatever it takes to bag some tail. Best line: "As you say in the vernacular, I want me some of that."

Females fight against nature tooth-and-nail (think cosmetics industry), and ultimately "sell their soul" to land a relationship (and the requisite baby).

Sounds pretty cynical, yet accurate, doesn't it? I don't think the human species, or any species at that, has ever made it far without a healthy prioritization of sex. What this movie does, however, is attempt to peel back the veneer we have painted upon ourselves.

I had this movie on my "to watch" list, but forgot why it was there. Shortly into it, I got weirded-out by the imagery and matter-of-fact treatment of some pretty ludicrous scenes. I thought, "Is this a joke?" I stuck with it and only during the end credits did I realize it was Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze flick, and a Charlie Kaufmann Freudian-tinged script.

I'm sure there's much to this movie that I am missing (What is the meaning of the scientist's new little brother? Where exactly is the white room?). I'm purposely writing this review before reading any other reviews or analysis at all, so I can't pretend that I figured out all the metaphor and simile on my own. Maybe the movie demands a second viewing? Or maybe, like good art, the movie is only a conduit by which we find the answers within ourselves. That sounded good, huh?

-a little verbal masturbation from a not-yet-evolved ape

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Weird, Different, but Interesting!! VERY ORIGINAL MOVIE!!

Charlie Kaufman may be the most original writer for screenplays in HOLLYWOOD, having contributed to weird movies such as Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Human Nature, HUMAN NATURE Plot: Take a beautiful girl (Patricia Arquette) with a condition of extreme hair growth that grows all over her body, decides she hates humanity because of all the abuse she gets from being different. SO she decides to live with nature, abandoning humanity. After a while she becomes increasingly lonely, so she decides to live back with humanity for the purpose to meet a guy and decides to get treated getting rid of her HaiR growth problem. In her search for a guy she meets a weird scientist(tim robbins) who is trying to teach mice table manners. They get married and go hiking one day to meet a man who lives by himself in the wilderness, who can't speak and is completely un aware of humanity. This becomes a great opportunity for the scientist to see if he can teach a primate to learn table manners. SOUND STRANGE? it get's weirder, you'll just have to see it for yourself.

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People are Strange

I have to admit, I had really high hopes for this movie. Made by Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry, the same writer/director team that worked together on one of my favorite movies ('Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'), and featuring Rhys Ifans and Miranda Otto, who were so good together in another favorite of mine ('Danny Deckchair'), I figured I had good reason to get excited about this. While I was not completely disappointed, it should be said that 'Human Nature' was something of a letdown for me.

At least it's original. 'Human Nature' is the story of four people who come together through some pretty unique circumstances. Tim Robbins is a scientist trying to teach table manners to mice, as the result of an interesting set of neuroses. Patricia Arquette, cursed since puberty with out-of-control body hair, plays Robbins' girlfriend and eventual assistant. Rhys Ifans is the scruffy man who was raised as an ape in the wild. And rounding out the list is Miranda Otto, the cute French lab assistant who has bigger dreams and naughtier intentions. Nobody in the film, of course, is quite what they seem or what they wish to be, and as the story progresses they all interact in different (often surprising!) ways. At the very least, the story will keep your attention to see what happens next.

Hilary Duff fans, take note...she appears for maybe 30 seconds in 'Human Nature' as a young (teenage) Patricia Arquette, when she first discovers her hair growth. It was a surprising appearance if you're not expecting it (I wasn't), but nothing to get excited about if you're a fan.

'Human Nature' has its funny moments, and its sad moments, and many that are an odd mixture of both. As Robbins and Arquette first find the man-ape Ifans, their ideas of his situation are completely opposite: Robbins wants to re-train the apeman to be a refined and dignified gentleman, while Arquette wants to let him explore his freedom. Otto's French lab assistant's motives aren't ever really clear, except for the idea that she's mostly looking out for herself. The thematic question becomes obvious: which is the 'true' nature of humanity? Is humanity defined by it's ability to rise above the base animal instinct and be civilized, or is it preferable to free the beast within us and live as we wish? The film provides no ready answer to this, but does give you the chance to explore the ideas of it.

There's nothing specific I found disappointing about the movie, just a general feeling that at some point it got so strange that it lost me. Was it Patricia Arquette's oddly-placed nude (well, sort of) singing scene? Was it Miranda Otto's questionable French heritage? Rhys Ifans getting shocked over and over for his natural reaction to seeing a naked woman? Probably, it was the overall effect of all of these things, and others like them. Taken all together, I never felt like the movie found its direction. It's not so much that it lost me...just that it never really found me in the first place.

I like some pretty oddball movies sometimes, but 'Human Nature' might be just a little over the line even for me. It's funny, it's got some good performances, and it's definitely an original. My overall impression in the end, though, is that it's just... strange.

Perhaps that's the point.

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