Micmacs: Un plan de locos

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'Micmacs' has definite echoes of his first film 'Delicatessan', a wonderful aesthetic (a strange mixture of world war two and contemporary), a story with an edge of darkness, but also with a quirky heart. It's more whimsical than that earlier movie, but fun in the manner of the best cartoons - indeed, it's rare to see a live action movie more imbued with a cartoon-y aesthetic, and the its visual imagination bursts from every scene.. Perhaps there isn't quite enough at stake you make you care desperately about the plot: it's a tale of bad people (and their downfall), whereas 'Delicatessan' was a (much scarier) story of a whole world gone bad. But it's a fun, sweet film with a definite sense of its own style: there's not too much not to like here.

French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet marks his return to the film world this weekend with Micmacs. For those of you unfamiliar with Jeunet's previous works, he is probably most known for his sugary goodness of a film that is Amélie. With Micmacs, Jeunet proves that he has not lost his touch.

We begin the film with a group of men in the desert. Each man is dressed in his best bomb-squad attire and is combing a strip of sand for landmines to diffuse. We focus on one man as he carefully locates and unearths a single mine. Just as he begins to diffuse it we are treated to a long shot of all of the men working as our friend blows up. The film zips away from this scene to the wife and son of the departed as they are informed of his death. Through several jump cuts, we are able to see that this event will affect the young boy's entire life. We then fast-forward to a small video rental store in modern day France. Bazil (Dany Boon), the young boy we previously met, is now fully grown and works at the video store. Bazil is presented as a simple and somewhat happy man with a love of film. He amorously recites the lines of the film he watches matching the cadence perfectly. At the same time, a high-speed car chase spills over into his world. As the chase passes by the video store, Bazil runs out to see the commotion. Just as he exits the store, a stray bullet flies out from the action movie taking place outside and catches him in the head, wounding, but not killing him. He is transported to a hospital where the doctor decides that he does not feel like chancing the surgery and leaves the bullet in Bazil's head.

As Bazil attempts to return to his life, he finds that everything has moved on without him. His apartment has been rented to someone new and his job has been giving to a cute young girl who gives him the bullet casing that was found in the street, remnants of the moment that changed everything. Bazil attempts to live a normal life, panhandling in order to get by. He is soon taken in by a group of eccentrics that will act as his family. While gathering junk he notices a building that bears the same symbol that was on the bullet casing. He then looks across the street and sees the symbol that was on the landmine that killed his father. The rest of the film then follows Bazil and his group as they seek to take down both companies.

The first thing that must be said about this film is how beautiful it is. Jeunet proves that a great filmmaker truly is an artist as each shot is more beautiful than the next. The viewer is never aware of just how fast the film often moves. Despite numerous jump cuts, a signature of Jeunet, the film feels very smooth, somehow avoiding the feeling that the film was edited by a child with ADD on a sugar high that often occurs with this technique. However, the film does have its flaws.

There is little character development throughout the film. The most well developed character, no surprise, is Bazil. The peripheral characters all seem to be one note jokes that are simply there to help both the story and Bazil move forward. I can honestly say that I cannot name any of the other characters in the movie, often referring to them as The Mother Figure, The Bendy Chick and That Human Cannonball Guy just to name a few. Of the eccentric group that Bazil runs with, each one has his own quirk with little to no development past that. The viewer is expected to accept these quirks and not dig any deeper into the characters. There truly is no fully three-dimensional character in the film.

Micmacs is consistently funny and ends in a way that will leave you smiling. The film is a feast for the eyes despite its lack of character development. If you like Amélie, you will like Micmacs. After five long years, it is great to be able to reenter Jeunet's world of whimsy.

I saw this film in France today and it's a very good surprise... I didn't know the plot of the story so the beginning was a little surprising, but gets quickly to the general atmosphere of the movie. A little crazy, but very well filmed, colorful, very good cast. Dany Boon is finally a great actor. I like idea to laugh at the weapon industry.

This film made me think of Slevin (those who have seen will understand).

If you know Jean-Pierre Jeunet's filmography you can blindly jump in. It's difficult to do quality and quantity, but when you see his work you have no doubt about what he choose.

I recommend.

Micmacs a tire-larigot (2009); Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Starring: Dany Boon, Julie Ferrier, André Dussolier, Dominque Pinon et al.

The announcement that Jean-Pierre Jeunet was making a new film made me happy and after seeing it I am even happier. Mr. Jeunet has delivered some weird, but exquisite films and this one is no exception. It is like a crossover between his earlier films with Marc Caro and his later ones. There are the whacky characters with weird hobbies from his earlier work, but it's not as dark as those. It actually has a bright atmosphere, like "Amélie".

In the film's opening we see a soldier failing to disarm a mine. Then follows a cut to some apartment in Paris where a phone rings. Some boy's mother picks it up and starts crying, while we're watching the boy's face sadden. Jeunet doesn't need any dialogue to convey what has happened. We move forwards in time and we see the now grown up boy, named Bazil (Dany Boon), working in a video store, watching a classic film. Outside a chase is going on, shots are fired and a pistol falls. Bazil stands up to watch this scene unfold, when he's hit by a bullet. The camera moves in on the TV screen and when that film ends, the Warner Brothers logo appears and "Micmacs" starts. The opening credits remain in the black and white of the finished film and a classic Max Steiner score plays gloriously over the credits, which was great to see once more on the silver screen. In these first minutes alone we already witnessed some of the most creative film-making of the decade. Jeunet has always been a very visual filmmaker and this prologue alone proves that he masters the art of visual storytelling. There's no need for dialogue. After the titles we see a doctor deciding Bazil's faith. Getting the bullet out of his head can permanently paralyze him and leaving it in can cause death at any moment. A coin decides for the latter option. At home he's in for a surprise though: his apartment has been rented out and his job has been taken. Luckily he can get his hat back from some neighboring kids, but that's about all he has left. He decides to earn money by performing on the streets, where he is picked up by Placard. He takes him to a scrap yard where he lives alongside other outcasts of society. These are all weird characters in the best Jeunet fashion. There is Tambouille, who takes care of them like a mother. There's Calculette, the daughter of a carpenter and a sowing lady, who can measure up anything and anyone with one look. There's Petit Pierre, who makes strange puppets from old materials (like a dancing dress). Then there's a person obsessed with his Guinness Book of Records entry for fastest living cannonball, Fracasse. Last but not least, there's the snake lady named Caoutchouc, who can assume all sorts of unnatural stances. And let's not forget Remington, who is part of the gang too. Their little society collects junk, making it into all sorts of sellable things, thus giving it a second life.

On a day though, Bazil finds the weapon manufacturers responsible for making the landmine which killed his father and the bullet which struck him. He decides to get his revenge, but only with the help of the unique talents of his comrades. His plan is weirder than you could possibly imagine. It basically involves getting the two manufacturers to destroy each other. How this is done is truly unique and very funny. They gradually turn up the heat and start irritating both in the name of the other. The way in which the plot moves forward and how the characters interact is typical Jeunet. It's by no means a serious film, but Jeunet delivers his fantasy world with great conviction, yet not taking it too seriously. That's why all of it works and makes perfect sense within this fantasy world and why it's great fun. Jeunet also provides a lovely touch by making some self-references. On multiple occasions we see our main hero driving past a poster of this film and in one scene he's eaves dropping on one of the weapon tycoons, when he accidentally lowers his microphone in the wrong chimney and overhears a scene from "Delicatessen". Another great touch was showing the power of modern day media like Youtube.

All actors played their characters well, with their strange characteristics brought forward in a very believable and endearing manner. Dany Boon shines in a performance reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin. He makes his character funny, touching and sad without the aid of dialogue, relying solely on body language. He does have some dialogue, but it is kept to a minimum. Dominique Pinon is a joy to watch as always. Although we've seen him as strange characters before, he remains fresh and he delivers another great oddball performance as Fracasse. Julie Ferrier plays Caoutchouc, who is in need of love and a great deal of attention and she acts really convincing. During the course of the film she and Bazil fall in love, which is shown very subtle. This makes it a joy to watch and when they finally kiss, it is such a tender moment. The other actors making up the gang are also wonderful, as are the two weapon tycoons. They're played by André Dussolier and Nicolas Marié and they make for very convincing villains with some bizarre habits.

Beautiful visuals and shots add even more, making this film a treat on all levels. It's incredibly funny and sometimes very touching, but above all it made me laugh and smile. The film still delivers a serious message about weaponry though, without it getting lost in the fun and without giving you a guilty feeling about feeling happy afterwards. This film is like a cool summer's breeze: completely refreshing.

9/10.

By the director of Delicatessen and Amelie, this is closer to the earlier one. It's that mad jumble of images and daring camera-work again. And again it turns out to be a film quite unlike the one you were expecting. I'm sure someone has said this somewhere already, but it's worth repeating. I'm talking about Fellini on acid.

After an electrifying prologue in which our hero is orphaned, the screen explodes into a big-budget retro Hollywood opening and the story begins.

Almost right away our man Bazil, played by star of the French screen Danny Boon, is wounded by a stray bullet, losing his job after a long spell in hospital. He's saved from oblivion by a family of freaky misfits who live underground, surviving by rescuing the junk society throws out and giving it new life.

What Bazil really wants is to get his own back on the two arms manufacturers who messed up his life, and his new friends are the perfect mates for carrying out such a scheme. They include a human cannonball, a numbers genius, a circus contortionist and a robot inventor, and their plots are just as wacky as they are.

Talking of plots, the story, packed though it is with fantastic imagery as if it were a story about bad adults written by very clever children, races along regardless. The scene where Bazil gets shot is itself so much more than a simple zap with a bullet. It's a short film in itself, and the whole thing is full of chunks like that. It really is too much to eat at one sitting, and I would recommend a second look. You'll probably see me there, in the front row, my jaw in my lap.