Koko: A Talking Gorilla

Director: Barbet Schroeder

1978 / 85min / DCP

Schroeder, whose documentary work tends to focus on unusual obsessives (Charles Bukowski, Idi Amin, terrorist defense lawyer Jacques Vergès), here trains his camera on the eponymous lowland ape and her constant companion from 1972 onwards, animal psychologist and sign language instructor Francine “Penny” Patterson who, while teaching Koko to speak through her hands, the narration suggests is on a mission to make her “the first White American Protestant gorilla.” “Handsomely photographed by Néstor Almendros… Mr. Schroeder makes a point of approaching both his subjects, Penny and Koko, as a foreigner… A good deal of time is devoted to the very American habits of pretty, blond Penny, and her manner of passing them on to the gorilla… Funny, provocative.” —The New York Times

Distributor: Janus Films