Micmacs

Drew's Thoughts:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet has more or less made a career of out-Gilliaming Terry Gilliam and his newest film Micmacs is another example of this. The inventive anti-gun/war/violence tale begins with a boy's father killed by weapons by a particular weapons manufacturer and fast forwards to the boy now grown up witnessing a shooting outside the video store where he works and gets a stray bullet, made by another Parisian weapons manufacturer, lodged in his brain which makes him go a little crazy sometimes.
The film is pure fantasy drawing on the vast history of movies to tell its story (without actually ripping off anything a la Tarantino.) Bogart and Bacall make cameos, an old Max Steiner score is used occasionally, there are hints of Chaplin's tramp (and other silent-era comedy,) westerns, capers, and, of course, desert combat films. The main character falls into a colorful gang of misfits who live beneath a junkyard (oh yeah, I forgot to mention Freaks) and eventually devises a plan and enlists their help to get back at both weapons manufacturers.
The film is briskly paced, with great art direction and cinematography. Dominique Pinon, the pug-faced Jeunet regular, provides a hilarious performance though unfortunately his part is quite small.
While Micmacs is inventive, it doesn't wield the emotional heft of Jeunet's finest hour Amelie. It's fun, well-made and doesn't get too heavy-handed with its message, yet the film still feels as though it might be a little too light to really stick in my memory. Only time will be the test. That said, it may be my second favorite of Jeunet's ouvre.
And no, I still don't get why this is called "Micmacs."