The Kidd Vs. Micmacs
CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD
The Kidd is well aware that the average American movie-goer automatically dismisses any notion of watching a foreign film. “I don’t want to have to read” is often the excuse I hear for people and their anti-subtitle stance as the reason they refuse to expose themselves to any other culture outside of their own. It’s too bad for those people, because their closed-mindedness is going to prevent them from watching such good films as the newly released MICMACS, the latest film by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (AMELIE and THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN). MICMACS is a whimsical journey into the life of a creative individual named Bazil (Dany Boon), who seeks revenge against 2 different arms dealers who are responsible for his lot in life. The visual stylings of Jeunet will have you wide-eyed, hoping to allow your vision to absorb more of the beautiful images he puts on-screen this time out, while a colorful cast of characters will have you absolutely entertained during a truly fun film.
It all begins with the death of Bazil’s father, who is blown to smithereens by a land mine while serving in the French army. Bazil is left without a father figure in his life, and, as a result, he becomes listless. Grown older, he’s in a going-nowhere job in his going-nowhere life. He works in a video store. He has a shitty apartment. He’s merely making ends meet until one night, when a freak accident occurs, and he goes from just getting by to having no idea what his lot in life is. While working at the store one night, sitting around watching black & white Bogart movies, a car chase/gunfight outside results in a stray bullet being fired and landing right smack in Bazil’s forehead. From there, a coin flip decides his fate at the emergency room, as the doctors determine they can leave it in and he can try to life a normal life, or they can attempt to take it out, either killing him or permanently making him a vegetable.
You’d think Bazil’s luck may have turned, given his survival, but he’s replaced instantly at the store by a younger, more attractive female version of him who enjoys finer films (cartoons). He’s also booted from his apartment and left penniless. Broke with no job, Bazil is left homeless, doing his best as a street performer to earn whatever he can to begin rebuilding his life. However, the one thing he does have left is the mental image of the logo he saw as a child on the mine that killed his father, and he also managed to discover a shell casing with logo from his own unfortunate accident… information that coincidentally will prove useful down the line.
One day he comes into contact with Slammer (Jean-Pierre Marielle), a man who earned that name for all the time he spent in prison, who invites him to come along and live with quite an interesting family, filled with society’s outcasts, from Slammer himself who managed to live through the guillotine to Calculator (Marie-Julie Baup) who is able to size any person or read any measurement just by looking at it to Remington (Omar Sy) who wants to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance by a human cannonball, just to name a few. It’s this band of unique characters, in addition to Bazil’s limitless imagination, that absolutely make MICMACS entertaining as hell. This isn’t your basic run of the mill gang of misfits. This is an entirely new brand of misfit altogether. And, when Bazil happens to stumble right in between 2 buildings that house the 2 companies responsible for the land mine that killed his father and the bullet still resting comfortably in his head, he and his gang launch into an offensive to turn both companies against each other with an elaborate plan for dismantling.
The plots and schemes to bring down the arms dealers are often far-fetched, but that doesn’t make them uninteresting to watch. Jeunet relies on the likability of Bazil and his family to carry you above and beyond your suspension of disbelief, as they engage in action after action that would require perfect timing and execution and a whole lot of luck in order for any of it to be successful. However, how unrealistic it all seems doesn’t matter, as you know deep down in your heart that Bazil will find a happy ending. MICMACS is all about the trip to get to that resolution.
Jeunet puts forth a film that looks incredible from its old-school opening credits to a dream sequence about a soccer game made far more interesting because there’s a land mine buried somewhere on the field to a classic shot of Bazil caught in a dramatic situation with dramatic music laid over it… dramatic music played by a string orchestra that’s set up in the background. Jeunet brings a lot of style to the table this time out, and, stemming from that, MICMACS is visual dynamite. But the film rests of the lovability of Dany Boon’s Bazil, and you can’t hope but feel for this underdog to come out on top on the ruthless, uncaring, and heartless arms dealers that never think twice about the collateral damage of their industry.
MICMACS may not rank amongst the greatest foreign films ever made, but it is extraordinarily good. The characters are far from standard, and, while the story seems like any other ridiculous caper at times, it’s too fun of a ride for the plot holes to matter or take away your enjoyment of what’s on-screen. If you have the opportunity to see MICMACS, absolutely take it… and, if possible, you should even seek it out if you can find it, because, in time for the 4th of July, it’s easily the best film hitting theatres this weekend.
Loading ...