Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Charlie Kaufman is responsible for some of the most interesting scripts of the last decade, from 1999's Being John Malkovich through to Adaptation in 2002 and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2004. Human Nature is just as quirky, but there's a good reason it's been nigh forgotten even as Kaufman's other films become cult favourites.
It's quirky, alright: it's narrated by a dead etiquette specialist (Tim Robbins) and a man raised to believe he was a monkey (Rhys Ifans); the other main character (Patricia Arquette) suffers idiopathic hirsutism to such a degree that she runs off to live wild in the forest. The common thread, as announced, billboard-style, by the title, is "human nature". What separates the humans from the animals?
This theme is cleverly pursued through the comparison of the three central figures. One raised to be an animal, one raised to be Miss Manners; one who looks upon nature as something from which one needs to escape, one true believer in the Romantic ideal of the Noble Savage.
It's interesting, and more subtle, I think, than it immediately appears. The problem -- well, other than the problem of carrying a film with mostly-unlikable characters -- is the misanthropy. Sly irony aside, the film reduces human nature to sex and duplicity. It might even be right, but that makes it no more pleasant to swallow. In the end, it's one of those films that has to be appreciated more than it can be liked.
Unfortunately, there's little to appreciate besides its cynical cleverness. It's worth a few bitter laughs, but not much more.