MICMACS

A great film you may have missed, from the director of Amelie and Delicatessen

Few directors take full advantage of the medium in which they work like Jean-Pierre Jeunet. One of the premier directors around, Jeunet is one of those film makers for me, whose name on a film is reason enough to go see it. And Micmacs is yet another example of him at the top of his game.

When he was a boy, Bazil’s father was killed by a landmine in morocco and years later by a completely random turn of events he himself was shot by a stray bullet. He survived, but lost his job and ended up on the street — there are some brilliant scenes during this part of the film that harken back to classic silent films and would make Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin proud.

While on the streets he meets a group of eccentric junk yard dealers who take him into their “family” (you got a contortionist, an ex convict, a math genius, a human cannonball, etc… you get the idea). One day, by complete chance, he stumbles upon the two weapons manufacturers that built the landmines that killed his dad and the bullets that hit him. With the help of his friends he begins an intricate plan to destroy them both…

There are obviously many ways this story could be told. But, imagine it in the hands of the director of Delicatessen and Amelie. Well, it’s…