Review of Human Nature (2001) by Alison O — 07 Jul 2005

Best in Show: Rhys Ifans.

One for the future: Patricia Arquette.

Stand-out scene: Puff and the waitress.

Brainer or no-brainer: Brainer.

Stands up to one viewing or repeated?: Repeated.

DVD commentary any good?: Michel Gondry and Rhys Ifans: excellent.

DVD.

Having thoroughly enjoy every other movie from Charlie Kaufman's pen I realised that i'd missed out on the project he was involved in between Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. With this in mind I swiftly logged on to my DVD rental service and put matters right. Here, the absorbing story revolves around the inappropriately named Puff (Rhys Ifans), a man who has been living wild in a forest. A Doctor with a childhood-borne manners neurosis (Tim Robbins) takes him out of the environment in order to 'civilise' the feral Puff. Add into the mix, his girlfriend Lila (Patricia Arquette), who has a body hair problem and the Doctor's assistant, Gabrielle (Miranda Otto) who harbours a fixation with her boss and everything is in place for another Kaufman triumph. Rhys Ifans is excellent in the main character and inhabits the role in such a way that you can't envisage anyone else in the role. Director Michel Gondry, who was to work with Kaufman again on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, exhibits a confidence and invention for a debut director that i've not seen since Tim Burton made Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. His use of low-tech camera tricks rather than special effects marks him out as an especially gifted director, the scene where Arquette bursts into song reminding you that his roots lie in the music video world (indeed the sequence mirrors much of his work on Bjork's Human Behaviour. Kaufman's message that civilised doesn't necessarily mean civilised is wrought large, the viewer being tricked into thinking that the movie has one particular ending. Not as good as Spotless or Confessions, but on a par with Adaptation. and Being John Malkovich, this is the kind of thought-provoking filmmaking without borders that I love. Rather this than a soulless no-brainer actioner any day of the week.