MicMacs is the latest film by French Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, Delicatessen) and that fact alone will mean that the film will have a fan base regardless of what is written here, or elsewhere. Whether or not they enjoy it as much as Jeunet’s past works is irrelevant, as they’ll likely still find something to enjoy in this film filled with cartoonish caricatures.
I say caricatures instead of characters because those involved in this story are here to play a part in a wildly outlandish story of revenge, and aren’t here to be remembered for anything else. Micmacs tells the story of Bazil (Dany Boon), a simple man who had tragedy come into his life at a young age when his father was killed by a landmine. Now he spends his evenings working at a video store, reciting lines from films without missing a beat. It’s here, while minding his own business, that his life is hit with tragedy once more, after a stray bullet from a drive-by strikes him in the forehead, almost killing him. After being taken to the hospital, the doctor flips a coin (literally) to choose whether or not to remove the bullet, as doing so could leave him brain-dead, but leaving it in could cause the bullet to kill him at any moment. The coin lands on heads, and the bullet is left in. After recovering, Bazil finds himself without a place to live, or a job, and quickly finds himself trying to entertain small crowds in order to make enough money to get through the day.
He soon meets up with a man called Slammer, who quickly introduces him to a group of misfits, who live in a junkyard, and make their livelihood from salvaging old parts, and other things people throw away, and making it into something useful, or bizarre in some cases. The group is filled with people with various talents, one being a guy who holds the human cannonball world record, as well as a contortionist, a human calculator, and a few others who round out the crew. Quickly accepted into the group Bazil heads out on an junk gathering mission, and on this trip he coincidentally crosses paths with two weapons manufacturing companies, one of which was responsible for making the landmine that killed his father, and the other responsible for making the bullet that remains lodged in his head and could kill him at any moment.
Bazil immediately sets out on a mission to bring down these two companies, with the help of his new found misfit family, who want nothing more than to help Bazil in his crusade. The problem is, as entertaining as the film can be at times, it’s unfortunately plagued with a non-stop pacing of wacky idea after wacky idea that we never see planned, just executed.
Films like this, I find, are almost as good in their build-up as they are in their payoff. Watching a team plot and plan how they’re going to pull off this impossible feat (take Ocean’s 11 for example) and hit snags along the way, only to figure out some twist in the end to pull everything off and even amaze us, the audience that was there while they planned every aspect, is priceless. Micmacs skips those steps, and constantly goes to payoff after payoff, and it eventually just becomes a little boring, as there’s never a sense of knowing how they’re accomplishing all that they’re accomplishing, or how they’re getting themselves in the positions they’re getting themselves in; they’re just there, ready to strike, over and over again.
While the plot is thin, and the characters even thinner, the film looks beautiful, which is to be expected from Jeunet, who has a knack for the whimsical. In an interview found in the extra features, he speaks about wanting to make a film with caricatures, who are almost cartoon-like, much like Toy Story; while he succeeds in making those in the film human cartoons, he fails at hitting anything as memorable or meaningful as Toy Story. It’s unfortunate, as the film starts off strong, and is actually quite funny, though it flounders in the middle and never fully recovers.
The audio here is French 5.1, with English subtitles, and sounds fine. There are no struggles to hear the dialogue, even though it wouldn’t really matter as you’re reading along with it anyway. The music also sounds great, and adds another level to the cartoonish nature of the film. The video is a 16×9 2.40:1 transfer, and it looks quite solid on DVD. The colours and shades are sharp, and also give the cartoon-vibe that Jeunet was going for.
Interview with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet – This feature is just under 9 minutes, and is a straight up interview with Jeunet, who’s talking to the camera. It’s all in French, with English subtitles. Here you’ll find out about the type of film he was trying to make, and his thoughts on the characters involved. It’s not much, and for a film that’s likely to be loved for the visual aspect, it’s odd they went with a straight up interview over any other type of flare or making of.
Micmacs isn’t bad, and it had potential, it just stays on a steady downward spiral from a strong start and never picks back up. Again, fans of Jeunet will likely find more to love here, and may be able to look past the lack of character and substance, and just enjoy the beautiful visuals and wild shenanigans that Bazil and his crew pull off while trying to bring down these evil weapons manufacturers, but for the average viewer, there’s just not enough here to warrant a big recommendation.
E1 Entertainment presents Micmacs. Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Starring: Dany Boon. Written by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Guillaume Laurant. Running time: 105 Minutes. Rating: PG. Released on DVD: Sept. 3, 2010.
