The Mating Habits Of - The Earthbound Human -1999...

In the dying breath of the 20th century, just as the world was bracing for Y2K, a tiny, bizarre, and brilliant independent film slipped quietly into living rooms via VHS and late-night cable. It wasn't about asteroids, a haunted Blair Witch forest, or a sixth sense. It was about sex—specifically, human sex—but told from the perspective of a voiceover so coldly clinical, so hilariously detached, that coitus began to resemble a nature documentary about bonobos.

They go back to his “nesting chamber.” Jenny sees his bookshelf. She sees a dog-eared copy of The Catcher in the Rye . She smiles. Billy does not immediately attempt “genetic transfer.” He offers tea. The narrator is flummoxed: “This male is either a highly evolved specimen… or defective.” A misunderstanding occurs (she sees him with another woman—his sister). The classic rom-com dark moment. But the narrator reframes it: “The female has activated her ‘jealousy protocol,’ a defensive mechanism designed to preserve exclusive access to the male’s resources. The male, meanwhile, has activated his ‘confusion protocol,’ which is indistinguishable from his normal state of consciousness.” The Mating Habits Of The Earthbound Human -1999...

The film’s gentle, absurdist perspective offers a release valve. It says: Of course this is ridiculous. Of course you feel like an alien trying to perform human mating. That’s the point. In the dying breath of the 20th century,