Victor reads the film as “a brilliant, pitch-black comedy”: a gleeful satire on the hubris of people who think their motives are pure–and that species is just a social construct. Victor Morton is right that the filmmaker’s style is very “knockoff Errol Morris” and it sometimes feels pretentious and overplayed, though there are also some great cuts and cues (like both times we see the “human dad’s” hand waving as he sinks beneath the surface of a creek). This documentary tells the story of Nim, from the time he was taken from his mother’s arms (his… biological mother) to his death. The “mom” also, you will be shocked to hear, doesn’t believe in disciplining children, regardless of species. They teach the chimp to wear clothes, and to use the toilet (more or less), and to sign “hug” and “berries” and “play” the chimp loves the family cat, and also enjoys it when the humans share their booze and weed, which they do because it’s the ’70s and you wouldn’t want to be selfish. The “mom” (the scientist’s former lover but I’m sure that won’t be relevant!) bonds immediately with the apeling… the “dad” not so much. Project Nim: In the late 1970s, a scientist decides to prove that other animals can use language by giving a family a baby chimpanzee to raise as one of their own.

Amazing set, amazing gowns (Edith Head, natch), nice men’s suits also, the camera captures everybody’s eyes, the longing gaze of the normal woman and the fixed wild stare of the entrancing one. I don’t think William Holden is bad at his job but she swallows him like a shark. Then Gloria Swanson opens her FACE and it’s like standing in front of a firehose of gothic camp. This thing is just kind of there for the first 20 minutes, the set-up.

Chimpanzee movie