Micmacs

2009
dir. by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Seemingly not very long ago - 1991, actually - the world was introduced to the retro-niche-kitsch from France in the form of the lovable Delicatessen. Quirky caricatures in funny environments finding love and purpose and hope despite their surroundings, all told with a circus-style pace and with knowing nods to the likes of Rube Goldberg.

That film and it's equally-enjoyable follow-up, The City of Lost Children, were directed by a pair of animators, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. Together, they had an impressive sense of scope and storytelling with limitless creativity, it seemed. Those two films, though, would be their only film work together and they parted company afterward. But Jeunet foraged onward, making a name for himself as an established director with Amelie, Alien: Resurrection, and A Very Long Engagement. Yet, each of these films might be enjoyable in their own regard to varying degrees they still lacked the pop demonstrated when Jeunet and Caro were together.

So Jeunet decided to get back more to his roots in subject-matter with his latest film, 2009's Micmacs (French title, Micmacs í¡ tire-larigot, or “non-stop shenanigans”). And while a capable film it's still without Caro and that extra edge he brought to the creative table.

Micmacs is the story of Bazil (Danny Boon), an average French “joe” that has an extraordinary story. The film opens on Bazil's father getting killed by a landmine in Africa and Bazil discovering the name of the (ironically) French manufacturer of the device. Cut to many years later and an older Bazil is relaxing one night at his job in a video store. Rushing outside to witness a gunfight + chase a bouncing gun delivers a bullet straight into Bazil's forehead. The doctors realize that removing the bullet will make him a vegetable but leaving it in might eventually kill him, they opt for the latter (is this how socialized medicine works?). So he gets a cool scar and, seemingly, a bit of a social/learning disability.

Due to being in a coma he loses his apartment and his job. However, the cute girl replacing him at the video store saved the bullet casing from the gun that put a bullet in his head. And, again, ironically, it's a French manufacturer that's responsible for this latest violence in his life. Inevitably (in this world, anyway), Bazil soon concocts a plan of revenge...
Given his downward social standing he's on the outskirts of society but is pretty non-plussed by it. He just takes to living on the streets as if that's what he's supposed to do. It's this hopeful, adaptive attitude that soon draws him into contact with Slammer, an ex-con who's involved with a group of social misfits who apparently live underneath a trash pile. Each member of the group has some kind of special talent, like an film-assembled team does: Calculator, a savant of numbers, Tiny Pete, an automoton craftsman, Buster (Dominique Pignon!) the record-setting human cannonball, Remington, an ethnographer obsessive, and Elastic Girl, a contortionist that's not afraid to speak her mind. With this team assembled and his discovery that the arms' manufacturers responsible for the violence he's experienced are both in town and situated directly across the street from each other Bazil's ready to enact his plan.

The plan is involved, a little convoluted, but it's fun to watch how this group creatively puts the pieces in motion. Jeunet even throws in still shots of the live action within the shots themselves, too, just for fun. And that's the best part of Micmacs - it's sense of creative and having fun doing it. The performances are good despite the uneven story elements and rough structure that seems spasmodic rather than “quirky” or “mannered.” The film still looks great and is a fun time, regardless, though. But I just can't help wondering how much more it might've been had Jeunet also re-teamed with his old partner...

Rating: B-