Micmacs - Uns gehört Paris! (Micmacs a tire-larigot)
France 2009

Opening 22 Jul 2010

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writing credits: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant
Principal actors: Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Yolande Moreau

Micmacs is a very zany, original, and fun black comedy dubbed in German (French original) that is easy to understand, since director Jean-Pierre Jeunet employs superb visual imagery; our main protagonist Bazil’s (Dany Boon) first thirty years is set up with just a couple lines of dialogue. Jeunet and fellow writer Guillaume Laurant’s script is a unique and rather plausible tale of societal misfits who come together and their ensuing escapades as they plot against two gigantic, successful arms manufacturers.

After getting a bullet lodged in his head following a drive-by shooting outside the video shop where Bazil works, he loses home and job. Two months later, grizzled Placard (Jean-Pierre Marielle) notices his street performances and invites the unfortunate Bazil into the “family”. Home is an anomaly under a pile of scrap metal; the bizarre yet caring characters subsist by transforming junk they find on the streets into viable sellable gadgets.

Bazil’s woes hinge on weapons; he sets his sight on revenge and the rival weapons companies of Nicolas Thibault de Fenouillet (André Dussollier) and François Marconi (Nicolas Marié). The idiosyncratic gang gives him the ultimatum “either you leave or you let us help”; contortionist La Môme Caoutchouc (Julie Ferrier) twists scenarios to fit their plan, and Bazil, to wet their budding affection. Only in your wildest imagining could you conceive of the schemes they devise, the “expertise” each member contributes, and the outcome when everyone gets what they deserve.

Jeunet’s élan (Amélie, Delicatessen) saturates this finely crafted film: droll details, Tetsuo Nagata’s color-rich cinematography, political innuendos, Raphaël Beau’s saucy original music, witty, sly editing by Hervé Schneid, intricate sound design, and the most lovable, delightful, wonderfully eccentric band of deviates imaginable set against a Parisian backdrop unknown to tourists. Indulge yourself and have some fun; see this capricious film that you will not want to end. (Marinell Haegelin)