AKA: Micmacs.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Language: French.
Rating: * * *1/2
From the maker of Amelie, comes yet another smartly delivered, rib-tickling ride. The movie held me in its strange and hilarious developments right from the start; not an easy thing to pull off. Apart from the simple storyline, it’s the whole gang that does the trick and leaves you laughing, or at least smiling, after every frame.
The story centers on Bazil (Dany Boon), who’s orphaned at a tender age by losing his father in a freak accident. An army officer, his father was trying to diffuse a landmine while on duty, when the mine just blew up in his face. Among all his father’s belongings that were returned, were pieces of outer-shell of the landmine that killed his father. On close inspection, Bazil finds a brand etched on it, probably belonging to the makers of that mine. Thirty years later, Bazil becomes the butt of yet another nearly-fatal freak accident. While a shootout is in progress right in front of the video store he works at, a stray bullet hits him right in the forehead. The surgeon is uncertain whether to remove the bullet, rendering Bazil comatose forever, or to let it be stuck inside his temple, and let the poor guy live until the bullet does any further damage. The critical decision is made after flipping a coin, and the doctor decides to leave the bullet lodged in his head. Bazil’s world isn’t the same after being discharged from the hospital. He’s been replaced at his work, all his belongings at his rented tenement have been pillaged, and he occasionally suffers from strange fits when his senses are heightened, all thanks to the bullet. Soon after, he finds another arms dealer’s brand etched on the shell casing of the bullet that has made him into a ticking bomb. Trying to make his ends meet and live one day at a time, he gets through his strange life in stranger ways.
One day, he meets Placard (Jean-Pierre Marielle), a pardoned convict and the bandmaster of a group of talented, yet eccentric personalities, living in a junkyard, housed under a mammoth heap of scraps and disposables. The misfits comprise of Calculette (Marie-Julie Baup), a walking, talking calculator; Fracasse (Dominique Pinon), a proud record holder of human cannonball feats; Remington (Omar Sy), enigmatic with words and a failed writer; Petit Pierre (Michel Crémadès), capable of building robots or any other mechanical contraption out of discarded junk of metal; La Môme Caoutchouc (Julie Ferrier), an wide-eyed, hyper contortionist; and Tambouille (Yolande Moreau) as the mother figure to this motley crew.
Bazil soon stumbles upon the headquarters of the two arms manufacturers that orphaned him and have made him live life on a razor’s edge, and they also happen to be old rivals. These two lords of armaments are competing for supremacy through defence contracts, or any other (il)legal trade, which involve aiding and abetting guerillas/revolutionaries on foreign soil. Bazil contrives a very ingenious and an intricately woven plan, which would expose these war mongers’ under-the-table dealings, and finally rip them off of their sheep clothing. Inevitably, he involves the whole group and each of them contributes in their own peculiar way, providing the viewers with some genuinely funny and, at times, laugh-out-loud moments. Bazil pulls all the right strings with the help of his colleagues, slowly deconstructing the two devils, occasionally, pitting them against each other, and sabotaging their ongoing efforts in weapons domination. With the delightful tone, albeit somewhat dark at some places, and the reputation that precedes the director, one could easily anticipate what the finale will be like. But that guesswork doesn’t take even a dime away from enjoying this marvelous piece of satire. It’s all in the journey up till the destination that truly holds the charm and keeps the movie progressing through some hilarious phase, and brilliant acting.
With such a huge cast of bizarre shades, it can’t be left to one’s imagination that the movie is a triumph because of the performances and all the small elements that were employed in the making. Here, proverbially, the devil is in the details. The director and all the rest of the behind-the-camera assets, set up each scene with spellbinding visuals of the urban jungle, and painstaking choreography of each elements’ moves. The yellow tint that we’ve become so accustomed to, when it comes to Jeunet’s movies, is diffused throughout the film, and it provides a subtle, soothing touch, highly in contrast to the on-screen wild, innovative ride. The star cast does a tremendous job, obviously, and never let a moment slip away without filling it with their charisma. The director, following in his own, celebrated footsteps, delivers exactly what he’s good at: comedy with enough substance for a relaxing and an invigorating viewing. This movie sure goes down in my book of movies that made me sustain a smile throughout its duration; with Andaz Apna Apna seated at the very top. Now, if a movie manages to keep you smiling and admire its visual storytelling, then its damn worth your every buck and time spent.
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