Review of Micmacs (2009) by Jason J — 24 Aug 2011

French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet marks his return to the film world with Micmacs. For those of you unfamiliar with Jeunet's previous works, he is probably best known for Amà (C)lie. With Micmacs, Jeunet proves that he has not lost his touch.

It's a fun, entertaining, and cheeky outing that does not have a single dull moment. The movie is a light-hearted take on crime â" the crime of producing and selling weapons to maim or kill humans in wars.

The essential plot is that the hero gets a bullet in his head and can die at any moment from it. His dad died in a landmine explosion. He decides to take revenge. Not at the perpetrators themselves, but the heads of the two companies that make arms and sell them around the world to shady organisations.

He is adopted by a family of circus freaks who help him out with his plan. And they do so in the most bizarre fashion anyone could think of â" by playing to the physical, intellectual, and courageous strengths of each person.

There is a contortionist, a human cannonball, a human calculator, a black who speaks via the art of abstraction, an old man who improvises and creates things out of scrap metal, and a couple of others.

Most of the comedy come from physical situations that the characters find themselves in. There is no doubt that with this quirky effort, Jeunet has once again proved that he is one of the few masters of inventive cinema.

All in all a sumptuous treat for everyone, proving just as effective across the language barriers.