Whoa. The latest documentary from Man on Wire director James Marsh, Project Nim tells the story of Columbia University psychology professor Herbert Terrace’s attempt to have a chimpanzee raised like a human and taught language in the process — and of Nim’s Odyssean life after the experiment shuts down. The story reveals much more about its human players than it does about chimps or linguistics, but that’s the point. The level of candor and detail Marsh is able to capture in his interviews is riveting — and it doesn’t hurt that at least one of the principals was camera-happy back in the day. (2011) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.