Human Nature

Afer a diastrous Cannes premiere in 2001, this is still awaiting a UK theatrical release. It has all those wacky-genius Charlie Kaufman hallmarks - a surreal premise and farcical post-modern plot built on a philosophical conundrum - but precious few laughs. Ifans is a wild child, brought up to believe he's a pygmy chimpanzee, who's discovered by the congenitally hirsute naturalist Arquette, and uptight scientist Robbins (who's trying to teach table manners to mice). What we have here then is animal instinct vs civilisation, nature vs nurture, our old friend adaptation - so much Monkey Business. Famous for his elegantly artificial pop promos, Gondry opts for kitsch absurdism, but the film is never as outrageous, wild or unpredictable as it thinks it is.