Cinema Verdict Review: Micmacs

Micmacs

OPENING: 05/28/2010

STUDIO: Epithete Films

RUN TIME:105 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Lord of War. But, you know, in French.

Opening Statement
I entered Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s world like a lot of other people – through the movie Amelie. It was here that I first experienced the whimsy, the wacky, and the wonderful things that go on inside Monsieur Jeunet’s head. He is the French equivalent of the Coen Bros with David Fincher’s camera minus the pessimistic skepticism plus a heaping dollop of syrupy sugary quirk. His characters are always interesting. Even with the uninteresting ones he finds something intriguing to draw out of them. His frames are always alive; he chooses the most interesting camera angles, packed with details and information. After Amelie I looked back at Jean-Pierre’s filmography – Delicatessen and City of Lost Children but I didn’t have good reactions, probably because they were darker then I was expecting. I do need to go back and look at them again. I skipped Aliens 4, mainly on principle, and A Very Long Engagement is on my DVD shelf next to The Usual Suspects. That said, whenever I have an opportunity to revisit Jeunet in his land of fantasy with his band of merry miscreants, I will do so. His imagination makes me imagine.

Facts of the Case
First it was a mine that exploded in the middle of the Moroccan dessert killing his father. Years later, it was a stray bullet that lodged in his brain. Bazil (Dany Boon) doesn’t have much luck with weapons. The first made him an orphan, the second holds him on the brink of sudden, instant death. Released from the hospital after his accident, Bazil is jobless and homeless. Luckily, a motley crew of junkyard dealers, two of whom are “Amelie” alumni, quickly takes in our inspired and gentle-minded dreamer. The group’s talents and inspirations are as surprising as they are diverse. Then one day, walking by two huge buildings, Bazil recognizes the logos of the weapons manufacturers that caused all of his misfortune. He sets out to take revenge with the help of his faithful gang of wacky friends.

The Evidence
Jeunet plays in shorthand through the first half hour of this film. He doesn’t linger on Bazil, his childhood and his plight for very long. Bazil loses his health, his house and his job in about 10 minutes and it doesn’t feel rushed. It feels more like someone saying “You know how this all goes. Let’s not waste time here when there are more interesting things to see.” On top of that, he handles what is often a very political and controversial topic – the ethics of producing and distributing arms – in a way that gets the point across and entertains the audience without beating us over the head and because of this, it gets the point across far more clearly then most of its predecessors. It is the French film the NRA does not want you to see. Our hero is played by Dany Boon, a huge star in his home country and after seeing this film it is easy to see why. His brand of comedy harkens back to the silent greats like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. He evokes great emotion in the slightest of facial expressions. It was great to place him in the middle of a group consisting of a human cannonball and an amazing contortionist, more people who communicate not with words but with actions. However, where Jeunet found a talented contortionist who can also act, and who also has great comic timing, is beyond me.

The music in Jean Pierre’s films always makes for great scores. Amilie’s score is one of my favorites; Yann Tiersen matched Jeunet’s magic one-for-one. In Micmacs, Raphael Beau pulls off just as monumental a feat. It is not simple to sound simple and yet be incredibly complex. And for being the first film Beau has ever worked on, it makes the accomplishment all the more impressive. The only serious bobble the film has is near the end. A good 3 minutes could be used by Google as one of the best commercials for YouTube ever. It was a bit of an overkill but then again, we are talking about Jeunet.

Closing Statement
After I watched this film, it struck me that most of Jeunet’s works have fairly simple plots. You don’t go to his movies for the complex story lines, you go for the visual feasts. However, it appears that Jean-Pierre understands that what he does, he does well and it is now time to push himself beyond boundaries he has not yet approached. Many would disagree that this is a great film, or say that the quirk-meter is seriously peaking which negates any good will the movie may have earned. If it is not already obvious, I disagree. To me, asking Jean Pierre Jeunet to not be quirky is like asking Dr. Seuss to stop making up words just so he can get a rhyme. It’s what he does and we love him for it.

The Verdict

8/10

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