French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet returns to form with this rather dark revenge comedy taking aim at the arms industry. Too bad it didn’t resonate with America which currently provides more guns, bombs, missiles and bullets than the French ever do. What do I mean by “form” though? If you’ve seen his previous film City of Lost Children, then you’d be familiar with Jeunet’s rapid-fire style, odd digtially-manipulated colors and occasional Rube Goldberg contraptions. You could say he’s a French version of Terry Gilliam; think Time Bandits and Baron Munchausen. For Alien:Resurrection and Amélie, those were toned down immensely; I think he wanted to tell a different story on the latter.
Micmacs starts with some exposition about Bazil. When he was a young boy, his father was killed by a landmine in North Africa. During the wake, Bazil discovered a corporate logo on the disarmed mines in a photograph amongst his father’s personal effects. (It has been a while since I watched this, I may be wrong on this point.) Eventually, Bazil’s mother becomes inconsolable with grief and he ends up in an orphanage. Fast forward to Bazil as an adult working at a video store. While watching The Big Sleep, a high-speed chase-gun fight passes by. A stray bullet nails him in the forehead. The surgeon decides to leave the projectile in since its removal would more likely kill Bazil. To add insult to injury, the two months of hospitalization costs him his job; the boss quickly replaced him figuring he died; and apartment. As a favor, his replacement gives him the casing from the bullet which resides in his head. This also has a distinctive logo.
Unemployed, homeless, he toughs it out on the Parisian streets. Then he meets Placard, an ex-convict who invites Bazil to join a colony living in the city’s junkyard. Here the residents survive by using their special talents to repair thrown-out, broken gadgets and resell them to people on the street.
Life is now looking up. Bazil has a new home, new friends/family and a purpose.
While collecting spare parts to aid the colony’s business, his truck breaks down between the corporate headquarters of the two weapon manufacturers responsible for ruining his life. Bazil asks to meet their respective CEOs only to discover how flippant, rapacious and indifferent they are to the misery they’ve caused him and the world. This inspires him to recruit the colony into undertaking an elaborate double-cross.
Easily you could say this is a French version of Oceans 11 which gratefully didn’t spawn two more crappy sequels. It does get preachy near the end yet most Americans are pretty ignorant about Europe’s involvement with the Arabic-speaking world. What I did enjoy was the execution, Jeunet’s visuals are his selling point. It doesn’t mean the acting is terrible (see George Lucas) or the plot is awful; it’s just not very original. Sometimes it’s just amusing to watch a film which reflects a country’s character like The Valet did.
Is it worth seeing? If you like Jeunet’s stuff, namely Delicatessen and City of Lost Children, absolutely. Amélie, probably not. French films, oui. Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, yes. None of the above? Non!