Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Dany Boon, Dominique Pinon & Julie Ferrier
A wonderfully whimsical and charming comedy from Jean-Pierre Jeunet which carries all the director’s usual flair for colourful characters, charm and inventive visuals.
Six years after his previous film, the World War romance A Very Long Engagement, Jean-Pierre Jeunet has returned with a film, smaller in scale to his last film but hailing back to the mood and eccentricities of Amelie and Delicatessen. While not as satisfying as those pictures, Micmacs is nevertheless enjoyable with Jeunet relishing in the opportunity to experiment with the film’s visual style and to display his love of film.
Having lost his father to a landmine 30 years before, and his mother to an asylum, Basil (Boon) now works in a video store and finds his life changed again when a gun fight outside results in him taking a bullet to his brain. With the bullet being left in on the decision of his surgeons leaving the length of Basil’s life to chance, Basil returns to find his home gone, his job replaced and himself living on the streets until he is taken in by a band of scrap collecting misfits. When the opportunity arises for Basil to get his revenge upon the corporations that produced the bullet lodged in his brain and the landmine that killed his father, corporations whose headquarters neighbour and compete with each other, Basil decides to bring them down with the help of his new friends.
Micmacs (roughly translated as 'suspect activities') is a thoroughly charming film, in typical Jeunet style. It is evident throughout that Micmacs is Jeunet having fun, Jeunet at his most comfortable. With film references littered throughout evoking the mood of Charlie Chaplin films as well as those of Humphrey Bogart and Kurosawa with even the main character Basil, like Jeunet, a film fan beginning the film working in a video store much like the early days of director Quentin Tarantino. Micmacs also features Jeunet’s usually interesting and impressive visual style present in the mise-en-scene, the cute and clever co-ordination of his misfit’s plans and in little cutaway moments such as when Basil must engage in quick mental exercises to focus his mind whenever he fins the bullet in his head inching upon his brain. The likeability of its characters and the cartoonish nature of them and the film’s plot make for a fun film though occasionally it is a little too light. A romance between Basil and a girl from the misfits with an elastic ability is perfectly charming but feels present because Jeunet feels there should be a romance rather than much evidence in the story to show it develop organically but, fortunately, such examples don’t distract much from the film’s enjoyment.
Micmacs features a colourful cast of characters and actors. Dany Boon, a well known comedian in France, is enjoyable in the lead role as Basil who, while sometimes a little too straight faced in some scenes, comes alive when mimicking Chaplin and is still quite likeable as a lead even though he lacks the magnetism of some of Jeunet’s previous leads like Audrey Tautou. Basil’s band of misfits are all enjoyably performed with Omar Sy’s Remington and Fracasse, played by Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon, most memorable while love interest ‘La Mome Caoutchouc’ is likeably played by Julie Ferrier. As the two corporate heads, Andre Dussollier and Nicholas Marie are highly enjoyable as the film’s two, cartoonish, villains both fun to watch and to root against.
Micmacs is a fun, funny and charming film that Jeunet fans especially will enjoy. Filled with Jeunet’s fondness for eccentric characters, film references and his lush visual style; Micmacs, while not as satisfying as Amelie or Delicatessen, is still highly enjoyable.
Rating: 4/5
