The Truth Behind the Ape-Man

Film Review by Dean Duncan Jun 1, 2015

The truth to which the title refers remains somewhat obscure to me. On the other hand this is energetically, skillfully and amusingly performed. Sense isn’t after all the most important part of a comic narrative, nor of an anxious one. (This is also the latter, under the surface, with regard to maleness, and in a very relaxed, gentle—woman director?—way.) The interior framing, about which I was just being a bit critical, is here much more dynamic and interesting. Is it that serious subjects, especially with a religious tinge, cause filmmakers to behave too/well? Guy keeps cutting back to a very nice mid-sized, obliquely angled shot of the old guy vainly anointing his bald pate with ineffectual hair tonic. I like that very much.