Here's the plot...as a kid, this guy's father was killed in North Africa by a landmine made by one armaments manufacturer. His poor widowed mother tries her best to raise him, and does, but in relative poverty. Then, as a young man, he is shot in the head with a bullet made by another armaments manufacturer. Recovering, and living on the streets as a result of carrying the bullet around with him in his brain, ready to kill him at any moment, in a moment of seeming realization he decides that his purpose in this possibly-short life is to take REVENGE on these armaments manufacturers, and in so doing put an end to them being able to supply weapons of war forever.
You can visualize the plot in your head. After all, you've seen variants of this "angry vigilante takes matters into his own hands and exacts justice" onscreen a hundred time. OK, maybe a couple of dozen times. In the in-your-head version, you were probably expecting someone like Stephen Seagall or Sylvester Stallone playing the young man, if they hadn't gotten so old and fat and all, and if their box office appeal hadn't tanked. You're probably imagining all the glorious mayhem, death, and carnage -- with lots of explosions thrown in, of course, because it's about arms dealers, after all. Now imagine this plot written and filmed by the guy who made "Amélie" and "Delicatessen" and "The City Of Lost Children." As a kind of quirky surrealist comedy. That's "Micmacs à tire-larigot," by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, released in the US as "Micmacs." Because it's a Jeunet film, and his films pretty much define "ensemble casts," he has rounded up the usual suspects, and supplemented them with Danny Boon in the lead and André Dussollier as one of the arms dealers. Because it's a Jeunet film, expect amazing but subtle visuals. "Amélie," after all, was the most CGI-maniuplated film in history when it was released. There was hardly a single frame that had not had its colors changed and other things done to it to put onscreen the vision Jeunet saw in *his* head. My bet is that "Micmacs" beats "Amélie's" record. And it's a hoot. In a quirky, French way, that is. Danny Boon is tremendous, aided in his plot by an incredibly sweet group of misfits and a lot of recycled junk. Not to be missed if you're a fan of Jeunet's work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buarPFzHmBw <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buarPFzHmBw>
