Being Human

What’s better than one Robin Williams? How about five of him? Williams, whose on-screen transformations include the redoubtable Mrs. Doubtfire and the always-young Peter Pan of Hook, turns chameleon again in this fanciful look at human history and longing from writer/director Bill Forsyth (Local Hero, Housekeeping). In five distinct yet cleverly interlocked roles, Williams is a cave dweller, a Roman slave, a medieval wayfarer, a Portuguese nobleman shipwrecked in Africa and a modern Manhattanite whose home life has hit the rocks. Each character reaches for survival, love, belonging — for all the things that made humankind draw together in the first place. Each is a human being faced with an unforgettable and universal challenge: Being Human.