Directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet
Starring Danny Boon, André Dossollier, Nicholas Marie, Jean Pierre Marielle, Yolande Moreau

★★★

Jeunet is back! I for one (and a good number of others I expect) experience a certain rush of excitement upon hearing the news that Jean Pierre Jeunet is to release a new film. Aside from being an avid fan of the man, I guess it’s got something to do with the length of time between his projects and the fact that until he has a film out, there is not going to be anything quite like one in the interim.

MICMACS, his first feature since 2004’s impressive A Very Long Engagement, doesn’t disappoint on many of the key eccentricities that are the director’s trademark. It is also the most retrospective to his earlier work; in particular the quirky styling’s of Delicatessen, the black comedy that gave him his break through in 1991 establishing him as the offbeat talent he is now widely recognised to be.

MICMACS is the story of Bazil, a lonely video rental store employee whom having lost his father to a landmine clearance accident when he was a child, has his own world turned upside down when he is inadvertently shot by a ricocheted stray bullet after innocently witnessing a criminal shoot out. He survives but the offending slug lodges itself so dangerously close to his brain that it cannot be safely removed, leaving him in a permanently discombobulated state. To make matters worse, he returns from his convalescence to find himself both unemployed and homeless.

After he receives a bullet found at the crime scene from the gun that shot him, he notices to his horror that it bears the same manufacturer’s logo as the one on the land mine that killed his father years earlier. An image forever etched into his memory.

Bazil roams the street of Paris earning a few euros here and there as he tries his hand at street performance. One evening he is approached by a stranger in a similar circumstance who introduces him to a motley crew of society’s castaways, all living in a disused automobile scrap yard. These lost (but quite gifted) souls adopt him and gradually his life begins to rebuild. Then one day quite by accident, he stumbles across a large office building bearing the malevolent logo that has now twice scarred his life. Horrified, enraged and craving revenge he embarks on a quest to destroy this corporate monster; a huge feat but one that his loyal new comrades are only too happy to assist with.

MICMACS is enjoyable stuff; the various back stories and subplots are told with the rhythmic panache one has come to expect from the director and although the proceedings primarily play out in a fun and often touching way, the strong anti-military message echoes throughout, never straying far from your conscience.

A negative that stands out is that the playful activities of the central characters, though perfectly well acted, don’t always gel well with the plot. Thirty minutes or so into the film and you become aware that it lacks the seamless direction of Amelie or the solid and involving screen adaptation of A Very Long Engagement.

Overall however, this is the work of a man still very much on top of his game and it displays the potential to adapt creatively; the delightful denouement blends entertainment and serious issue in a manner that reminds you of Michael Moore at his very best.

Whether you think MICMACS is at level, above or below par it certainly holds enough of Jeunet’s iconoclastic touch that the least you could say is – “that was very clever”.