CINEMA: Micmacs
French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet doesn’t make run of the mill movies.
From Delicatessen, through Amelie, to A Very Long Engagement, his films are full of weird coincidences, random happenings, eccentric characters and odd Heath Robinson-esque contraptions. Micmacs carries on in the same vein and in its charmingly weird way becomes enthralling – even if you’re a non-believer in the cult of Jeunet at the start, it will win you over by its thoroughly satisfying end.
Poor old Bazil (Dany Boon) is not having a very good life; his dad was blown up by a mine in West Africa, his mother went mad and in a shoot-out that has very little to do with him a bullet lodges in his brain putting him in a coma. When he finally gets out of hospital he finds he has lost his home and all his possessions have been stolen. It looks like Bazil will have to live on the streets, until he is spotted by Slammer (Jean-Pierre Marielle), the leader of a ragtag bunch of misfits known as the Micmacs.
The Micmacs live in a huge scrapyard where they have burrowed through the discarded cars, fridges and shopping carts to create their own Aladdin’s Cave. Slammer takes Bazil here to be looked after by Mama Chow (Yolande Moreau) the cook; eccentric inventor Tiny Pete (Michel Cremades); human cannonball Buster (Dominique Pinon); contortionist Elastic Girl (Julie Ferrier) and assorted other outcasts.
With their help Bazil, vows to bring down the two huge arms consortiums responsible for manufacturing the mine that killed his father and the bullet still stuck in his head.
What ensues is a delightful creative romp around Paris as those with very little of anything at all use all their ingenuity to outsmart and outmanoeuvre some very powerful, dangerous people.
Basically, Micmacs is a new take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It has a huge heart, some real laughs, dazzling visuals and a message about the little guys taking on the big guys and triumphing. What’s not to like?
Author: Dee Pilgrim
Dee always knew she wanted to make her living from writing and so trained as a journalist before working for a variety of music and women’s titles including Sounds, Company, Cosmopolitan, Ms London, New Woman, and Girl About Town. After going freelance she concentrated on celebrity interviews and film, theatre, music and restaurant reviews. Her love of film goes back to her very first cinema experience at the age of five when her mother took her to see Bambi. She cried. At one time she was the Film Editor for NOW magazine and also the secretary for the film section of the Critics’ Circle and the celebrity coordinator for its annual film awards’ event. She has written a number of books for teenagers through Trotman Publishing, including five Real Life Guides to vocational careers (including Carpentry, Plumbing and Catering), and also three books on Real Life Issues (Money, Bereavement and Self Harm). Her favourite film is still Bladerunner.
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