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A new film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a major cinematic event. It's been more than five years since his last film, and his latest, shortened in English to the name MicMacs, has been eagerly awaited.
The French maestro is known for his quirky comedies, and MicMacs is no exception. It tells of an innocent man (played by the very popular French comedian Dany Boon) who ends up with a bullet lodged in his brain after a shootout gone wrong. After losing his job, he becomes part of a rag-tag team of quirky characters, including a human cannonball and a contortionist, and enlists their help to bring down the arms company who manufactured the bullet.
As you'd expect from Jeunet, the film is visually superb. Every frame looks gorgeous, from the gold-hued cinematography to the intricate, imaginatively designed sets. The team live in a scrapheap, recycling old junk into art, household appliances and even scientific equipment. The film's crew have clearly gone to town creating a whole array of devices out of the rubble, like a particularly artistic episode of Scrapheap Challenge.
Also present and correct is the director's other trademark, the quirk factor. Played by the same troupe of actors he uses in all his films, they all give good comic performances to flesh out their zany caricatures. Unfortunately, Jeunet may have this time gone overboard with the surreal aspects. Unlike in Amélie, where the characters are eccentric but believable, MicMacs fails to create any emotional connection with this bunch of weirdos. If you can't see them as anything other than a collection of quirks, there's not going to be much payoff to a romantic subplot. The film's storyline, despite a clever Sergio Leone-inspired conclusion, is also rather a mess, ending up little more than a series of disjointed, albeit inspired, set pieces.
It's probably unfair to compare this film to Jeunet's previous work, especially something as brilliant as Amélie. When you've made some of the most inventive and visually dazzling films of the last twenty years, it's always a tough act to follow. But MicMacs, it pains me to say, should instead be called MishMash. Imaginative but at the same time lacking fresh ideas, the film should not be missed by Jeunet fans, but may leave newcomers quite bemused.
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