Project Nim

johnny_ultimate

Surprised there isn't a thread about this already, but I guess most are distracted by that other film about apes and their planet that was Earth all along :pac:

Anyway, went to see it today. New film from James Marsh, who made Man on Wire previously. Really engaging documentary, full of eccentric characters. It's about a chimp who a scientist decides to try and teach sign language to. The first carer adopts Nim into her family and an unorthodox upbringing. It then follows Nim through various changes of teachers, locations and quality of life.

There are some laughs to be hard, and much of the drama is related to the people involved in the project. But the film goes on to critique the methods of the various people involved in the experiment, although often leaves the viewer to make up their own mind. Issues like animal cruelty are addressed in a very matter-of-fact way and give the audience plenty of food for thought. While the experiment proved largely inconclusive, there's plenty here to suggest that chimps can be extremely intelligent animals. Whether they should be socialised and indeed if they can 'grow out of' their wild instincts is probably the main focus of the film.

It's a surprisingly moving documentary, too: many of the carers express real regret and nostalgia as they reflect on Nim's life. Many are frequently reduced to tears, and there are moments of real emotional intensity here: whether it be anger, sadness or indeed warmth. With a few nice stylistic tricks from Marsh (such as the way the camera pans to black to indicate the end of each participant's contributions) it's well worth checking out, although will surely wind up on TV sooner rather than later if it's not playing near you.

Galvasean

Read about this and it looks good. Tell us, where can we see this film in Ireland?

Sad Professor

I was just reading about this in Sight and Sound and saw the trailer in the IFI a while ago. I wonder if the UK distributors deliberately timed the release to coincide with Rise of the Planet of the Apes?

Galvasean

Experimental ape movie double bill madness? :pac:

Mickeroo

Yea I heard about this, looks great, what kind of release will this be getting here? seriously doubt my local will have it

Sad Professor

It's on in the Screen and the IFI at the moment. I'm not sure about the rest of the country.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah saw it in the IFI. Lowest turn out I've seen in the cinema for a while though.

Sad Professor

I can’t say I’m surprised. Anything involving animals just seems like it’s going to be manipulative. Nobody wants to be crying over what happened to a monkey 40 years ago.

The Black Oil

It's a good film, disturbing at times. You know from early on that it's not going to be a happy journey, but it doesn't outstay its welcome. Outside of some TV docs and a few other things, I don't think we get to see the roles reversed that often - scientists themselves being put under the microscope. Sure, it's done in peer reviewed work, but that tends to stay within a particular bubble. Poor chimps, though.