Review of Micmacs (2009) by Dean M — 23 Jul 2011

This French film is amusing vigilante story and breezy fun. With one notable expection, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films are rich, textured and enjoyably eccentric affairs, and have deservedly earned him favourable comparisons with the likes of Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton. But Jeunet's style and vision, which reached its apex in Amà (C)lie, offers more consistent results than either of those filmmakers.

The result plays out like Amà (C)lie's little life-improving schemes, albeit with a revenge motive and a team of conspirators. Lacking the vast resources of their quarry, Bazil and Co. prove to be genius improvisers - in one case performing a heist with a household alarm clock, a human cannonball and a gold fish bowl full of wasps. It's impressively inventive and entertainingly convoluted stuff.

But while virtually every frame creaks with inspiration, you can't help but come away feeling there's something missing. Perhaps it's to do with being so conditioned to expect a pay-off for every set-up. The extensive film-referencing comes, to a great degree, out of the fact that the pre-brainwound Bazil is a movie nut.

A more significant issue is Bazil himself. Whereas Amà (C)lie had at its heart a lovable, luminous brunette imp, here we have a large, blank-faced man of few words. And he's nowhere near as engaging. Dany Boon is a big deal in his homeland, but his appeal is yet to travel. We get that Bazil is shellshocked, but it does rather seem like Boon's coasting or, at least, failing to find the heart of his character while he's too busy playing on the surface. You may not be surprised to find that Boon started out as a mime.