Intermission: Branson theaters draw high quality, offbeat films

"Human Nature"

Directed By: Michael Gondry

Starring: Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto

Rated: R

Branson has one-upped make that two-upped the Springfield cinema scene yet again.

Opening at the Branson Meadows Theater on April 26 were a pair of smaller, quirkier films that have yet to make it to screens in our city. This pair, "Crush" and "Human Nature," are not even what could be termed as "art" films, the kind of movies one is used to driving to St. Louis or Kansas City to see.

As has been pointed out in this column several times in the last 15 years, the theater corporations cannot be faulted for filling their screens with the product that brings in the most money, but c'mon folks, where's our civic pride? While Branson is a nice town and does a swell job with its brand of entertainment, shouldn't the Springfield area have a few more people interested in things a current or two out of the mainstream?

I've made five trips to the Branson Meadows Theater in the past year or so to catch films that either never opened in Springfield or showed up weeks after their run in Branson. Add to this the fact the IMAX Theater with its huge screen and earth-shaking sound system is now showing theatrical releases along with regular IMAX fare, and Country Music City seems on its way to becoming the film center of southwest Missouri.

"Crush," a lusty English romantic comedy from first-time director and screenwriter John McKay, looked like a good bet, but when I considered that Tim Robbins or Patricia Arquette rarely make a bad movie, and the writer also wrote "Being John Malkovich," I decided on "Human Nature."

This film, too, is a rather lusty comedy that deals with societal mores, cruel twists of hormonal balances, classical conditioning and table manners.

Lila (played by Arquette) is a young woman who retreats to a life of solitude in the wilderness after nature plays a cruel trick upon her. Although beautiful, her body is entirely covered with hair. While living in the woods she becomes a successful nature writer, but after a decade or so, she decides to head back to "civilization." An electrolocist friend helps Lila start to get her follicles under control and introduces her to a swell guy.

That guy, Dr. Nathan Bronfman (played by Robbins), is a rather reserved man who has had a very strict upbringing. The flashbacks of his childhood provide many of the film's abundant laughs. Bronfman's government grant has allowed him to see if it's possible to teach table manners to mice.

Lila and Nathan (who suspects nothing of his girlfriend's past) begin a torrid affair and one day on a walk through the woods discover a unique find: A young man (played by Rhys Ifans) who was raised in the wilderness by an ape. Well, actually it was his father a human being who just thought he was an ape.

Lila and Nathan are both captivated by the ape man, whom they name "Puff." Nathan thinks Puff will be an infinitely more interesting experiment than mere mice and Lila is attracted to someone who, as she, has spent a great deal of time in woodsy solitude.

Never mind the table manners, Bronfman must first condition Puff to not jump on every female hesees.

There's a murder involved and the film is told in flashback form from the viewpoints of the three main characters. It all sounds confusing, but suffice to say writer Charlie Kauffman has a way to pull the madcap mania together in an often hilarious and rather philosophical way.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)