Human Nature Review:


Synopsis

From Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, comes this hilarious comedy about sexual manners and the perils of conformity.

Nathan (Tim Robbins - The Shawshank Redemption, Arlington Road) is a mild mannered scientist with an ambitious mission. After being traumatised as a child by his parent's obsession with good manners, he is determined to improve the planet by bringing etiquette to the animal kingdom - starting with teaching mice table manners.

When Lila (Patricia Arquette - Stigmata, True Romance), another victim of an unhappy past with a dark secret, comes into his life, he falls in love. Together they discover a man who they name Puff (Rhys Ifans - Notting Hill, The 51st State), who has been living alone in the wilds since childhood, and Nathan brings him home to be educated, which could be his greatest triumph.

But things get more complicated when Nathan's fetching French assistant (Miranda Otto - The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers) tries to snare him into romance, and the consequences are hilarious and unexpected.

Critique

Human Nature served as the directorial debut of Michel Gondry and featured performances from Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans and Miranda Otto. However, it was the fact that Charlie Kaufman had written the script that sparked the most interest amongst critics and film fans. Kaufman had previously penned the superb Being John Malkovich, whose wacky plot and excellent comedy earned it much acclaim. Human Nature is similarly strange, generating the same mix of oddball characters and unlikely humour. However, this film was far inferior to Being John Malkovich and failed to be a hit with the critics. Gondry's film never went on to receive a proper theatrical release, which was perhaps unfair yet financially understandable.

Tim Robbins is adequate as Nathan, a scientist attempting to 'civilise' a man they stumble across that has been living in the wilds since childhood. Robbins is passable but forgettable in his role, while Rhys Ifans is much more memorable as the wildman named Puff. The Welsh actor has the lion's share of comedy to deliver and succeeds quite well at times. Little looks and mannerisms that he employs are amusing, but too many of his jokes are crude and sexually-natured.

Meanwhile, Patricia Arquette plays Nathan's girlfriend, Lila, whose severe hormonal difficulties endow her with an ape-like covering of hair. The backstory to Lila's life is presented as a flashback near the beginning of the film and its offbeat tone quickly reminds us that this is a Charlie Kaufman film. Arquette's on-screen body hair troubles make for some funny situations, including one scene where she monkeys around a circus state and climbs a mini-skyscraper as 'Queen Kong'. Sadly, Patricia Arquette evokes more annoyance than sympathy later in the film and the body hair comedy fizzles out.

Miranda Otto completes the main quartet as Nathan's sexy French assistant, Gabrielle. Otto is fun to watch as she tries to manipulate her way into Nathan's trousers, but her character is perhaps tracked to conclusion with the least amount of satisfaction on the viewer's part. The comedy is decidedly unconventional, with the opening minutes setting up the bizarre premise of the film effectively. Unlike either Being John Malkovich or (Kaufman's later) Adaptation, things never become truly hilarious. The structure of the plot and strength of the individual characters is also decidedly weaker. However, there is still much more enjoyment to be derived here than from most generic action blockbusters.

Overall, therefore, Human Nature may tease the occasional smile out of the right audience members, but is best avoided by those who didn't like Being John Malkovich - this is sort of in the same style, but not as good.

6 out of 10

The Video

Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the film looks pretty good on this disc. Blacks are solid, yet not perfect, while there have been no major marks or specks copied across from the source print. The reproduction of colours is undoubtedly one of the transfer's strongest points, with the green forests looking particularly bright and lush. Sharpness is also pleasing, but not overly so, while there are no aliasing problems to report.

Some of the scenes, such as Tim Robbins' 'all-white interviews', expose a fair amount of noise and grain, but thankfully the disc is generally acceptable on both of these fronts as well. Overall, therefore, this is a good transfer all-round, yet the failure to amaze in any single department will perhaps limit its ability to truly impress seasoned home-cinema fans.

8 out of 10

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is not called upon for too much discrete surround action, with the largely dialogue-based nature of the film resulting in a rather restrained audio experience. Dialogue is, as expected, perfectly delivered from the front, while bass and general power does not seem to be lacking. There is some noticeable ambience from the rears at times, but not throughout.

The few moments where the surrounds are used significantly exhibit distinct separation. An example of such a a scene is where Puff walks down a busy street later in the film - the sound design was deliberately engineered to highlight his unfamiliarity with bustling city life and this comes across faithfully on the DVD. Overall, this is a far from special 5.1 track, but more than competent one for the job at hand.

7 out of 10

The Extras

There are only three extras on this disc, only one of which is actually any good. First up is the best feature of the title - the audio commentary by Director Michel Gondry and Rhys Ifans. Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, this was touted as a solo track by Gondry during pre-release promotion, so it was a nice surprise to hear Ifans introducing himself at the beginning of the track.

The pair are quite good as our hosts for the track, cracking a few amusing jokes as they reveal behind-the-scenes facts. Their comments do drop off in frequency somewhat as the film progresses but, overall, this is a solid entry on the extras list and far better than either of the other supplements offered on the disc.

Next up is the brief 'Human Nature' featurette, which only manages a pathetic 6 minute running length. Thankfully, there is no voiceover or barrage of clips to sit through - instead, the item skips straight ahead to interviews with Rhys Ifans, Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette and Miranda Otto. Each interviewee talks a little about their character but, with so little time available, it is far from surprising that none of them can venture into much detail. A longer set of interviews, ideally including chats with Director Michel Gondry and the ever-elusive Charlie Kaufman, should have been included instead. This featurette is presented in 1.33:1 full-frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.

The extras close with a staggering 10 teaser trailers - these can be played either individually or sequentially. In total, these 10 promos clock in at some 7 minutes of further viewing in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Quite why we get such a comprehensive collection of teasers remains a mystery when considering how poor the bonus material is overall. On a final note, the menus are static and presented with background sound in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - strangely and unhelpfully, only captions (and not preview images) can be seen on the chapter selection pages.

To conclude, this is a decidedly weak DVD with regards to extras - the commentary is the only proper item on offer but nowhere near strong enough to save the supplements.

4 out of 10

Movie 6
Video 8
Audio 7
Extras 4

OVERALL (not an average) 5

DVD Bulletin

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