Jean-Pierre Jeunet is back with another delightful slice of whimsy.
If I had to name my favourite directors, Jeunet is one that instantly comes to mind. I discovered him, like many others, with Amelie before moving onto his less commercial entries: Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children. He is one of the few directors working today who can genuinely be called an auteur. Every film of his is filled with quirky shots, intricately detailed characters and more sweetness than Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. His penchant for whimsy is ammo for his detractors but screw’em I say – their cynicism is my childlike sense of joy.
This is very much a Jeunet movie, and his best since Amelie. That’s all you really need to know. If you love his other stuff then you’re probably lining up already and if you hate him, well, really? For those of you in the middle though, carry on reading. Micmacs begins in trademark Jeunet fashion, introducing us to a video store clerk named Bazil (Danny Boon, The Valet) as he meticulously devours a ‘La vache qui rit’. He’s watching Casablanca, reciting it word for word. How many other movies would introduce a character like this? On a surface level no development has taken place but through this one scene I already feel like I know Bazil, far better than 20minutes of exposition would convey.
Shortly after this Jeunesque opening Bazil is almost killed after a freak occurrence sees him taking a bullet to the head. He survives, but the doctors decide it’s too risky to remove the bullet. Bazil soon learns that this bullet comes from the arms manufacturers responsible for the landmine that killed his father. Kicked out of his apartment (assumed dead – apartment let), unemployed (also assumed dead – sexy young chick replaced him) and lonely, he finds solace with a bunch of ragtag misfits. Utilising their particular skills Bazil plots revenge against the arms manufacturers who got him in this situation.
Will it surprise you to hear that perennial Jeunet favourite Dominique Pinon is one of these misfits? Here he plays the struggling stuntman but there’s also the artist, the contortionist, the maths whiz, the ethnographer who speaks in turns of phrase… you get the drift. Together they carry out an increasingly convoluted and preposterous plot to set the arms manufacturers against each other. They infiltrate the arms factory, the bosses homes, they blow things up and in my favourite scene of all – plant cocaine on African gangsters. It may be hard to follow but boy is it one fun ride!
Fun is something all too rare in cinema these days. While Micmacs may risk being so light and fluffy that the story disappears under a bubble of air it’s that simple sense of fun that makes it impossible not to get caught up with. Jeunet has shown yet again that he has no peer in visual playfulness.
4 1/2 Stars
Andrew Cozens