Friday, January 28, 2011
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Friday, January 28, 2011
MOVIE REVIEW
Nénette
Pay No Attention To The Humans Behind The Glass
Cage
The 40-year-old star of Nicolas Philibert's documentary
"Nénette".
Kino
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Friday, January 28, 2011
Nicolas Philibert's documentary "Nénette" is a clever, entertaining work of art.
The title subject is a 40-year-old orangutan, who has been living in a zoo in
France for virtually her entire life. For 67 minutes we watch via a
stationery camera as Nénette soaks up the close-ups and air time many human stars
would crave today.
Human voices fade in and out, allowing us different perspectives of the giant
creature. Just whom is watching whom, though? And who do we pay more
attention to? The voices -- we never see whom they belong to -- or Nénette?
Granted, Nénette, hundreds of pounds in weight, humongous and orange, is hard to
ignore. Yet so are those human voices, and as a character in and of
themselves they are annoying and distracting as we absorb the almost static
orangutan. The tension between the two variables marks a verisimilitude in
attaining what Nénette may feel when she's watching and listening to
frivolous-sounding voices fuss and remark about her day after day for 40 years.
It's an uncomfortable feeling that I felt, and I was a witness for just over an
hour.
"Nénette" isn't what I'd call typically enjoyable, but it is insightful and
revealing. There are no moments of great excitement. Some of Mr.
Philibert's film is sleep-inducing. Look closer though: there are sublime
moments of silence where Nénette and her children climb and slime the glass they
are confined by. That's when Mr. Philibert's film is at its best. When a
baby orangutan smears the glass with saliva at one point, there's a
beauty and elegance about it. It's more touching than revolting. Is
it a kiss? Is it a "you make me sick" moment?
Mr. Philibert's crafty camera inevitably forces us to ask the question: from
just whose perspective are we viewing this documentary? Art provokes and
challenges, and even at its barely-feature-length hour, "Nénette" provides a
huge challenge. The blur between the watched and the watcher increases as
the cinema-verite style predominates. There's a dimension and appreciation
you gain from watching "Nénette" that you won't get if you were in France
watching Nénette in person. You would more likely take the in-person
experience for granted.
Many parts of "Nénette" have the relative silence or monotone of smart, stellar
short-attention span-testing documentaries like "Babies" (though it had some
music) and "Into Great Silence", an epic three-hour film about life in a
monastery. Mr. Philibert's documentary is discreet in tone, pedestrian but
absorbing. Even when you think you may tire of "Nénette" you realize that
the time you spend with the wise orangutan is well worth your while.
"Nénette" is not rated by the Motion Picture Association Of America.
The film is in the French language with English subtitles. The film's running time is
one hour and seven minutes.
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