Human Nature Movie Review 2002

Offbeat and charming screwball comedy stars Arquette as Lila, a sweet kid with a hairy problem--extreme hirsutism--which forces her to become a reclusive nature writer living in the woods. Her sex drive finally forces her back to civilization, where she finds a sympathetic electrologist (Perez) who sets her up with repressed scientist Nathan (Robbins). As a result of his uber-repressed upbringing, Nathan is on a quest to teach mice good table manners, but when the couple finds a woods-dwelling wildman (Ifans), he has something new to experiment on and tries to teach nature-boy to be civilized, despite his raging libido. Eccentric feature debut of Gallic director Gondry is a quirky study of three characters at odds with their own true nature and trying to fit into a judgmental society. In keeping with the offbeat humor of writer/co-producer Kaufman's "Being John Malkovich."

Distribution

New Line Home Video, 116 N. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, Phone: (310)854-5811, Fax: (310)854-1824, URL: http://www.newline.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 96 minutes.
Originally from United States, French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Death & the Afterlife, Science & Scientists, Sex & Sexuality

Screenplay

Charlie Kaufman

Cast

Tim Robbins, Rhys Ifans, Patricia Arquette, Miranda Otto, Robert Forster, Mary Kay Place, Miguel (Michael) Sandoval, Toby Huss, Peter Dinklage, Rosie Perez

Cinematography

Tim Maurice-Jones

Director

Michel Gondry

Music

Graeme Revell

Other

Drew Kunin, Tracy McKnight, Russell Icke, Peter Andrus, Nancy Steiner, K.K. Barrett

Producer

Ted Hope, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, StudioCanal, Good Machine, Beverly Detroit Studios, Partizan Films, Fine Line Features

Awards

Natl. Bd. of Review 2002: Screenplay.