Human Nature

If you've never seen anything by Michel Gondry I'd advise you to do so now. He is one of the most creative and innovative directors around today. I recommend starting with a phenomenal collection of his music videos from Director's Series, Vol. 3 released by Palm Pictures. Don't worry if you don't care for the musical artists represented on this DVD, the wonderful and mind-blowing creativity of these videos will entertain and fascinate you beyond a doubt.

Human Nature is Gondry's first feature film. It is written by Charlie Kaufman who also co-wrote Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Gondry. The story concerns an obsessive scientist (Tim Robbins) who is trying to teach table manners to mice, his naturalist girlfriend (Patricia Arquette) who has a hormonal problem which causes her to be completely covered in hair, and a wild man (Rhys Ifans) who has been raised in the forest like an ape.

Besides a couple of love triangles and a nice helping of physical comedy from Ifans, the story looks at the issues of cultured civilization versus the freedom of living one-with-nature. While it doesn't have as much of the flight-of-fancy that later Gondry films have, it does have the playfulness that is very distinct in his works.

Check out the trailer (with a young Hilary Duff!).