Micmacs

French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a genius. He's one of my favourite directors and his film Amelie has been cemented in my top five films of all time since I saw it. His films are filled to the brim with quirky characters, sumptuous settings and witty dialogue. This one is no exception.
His latest film is Micmacs - the full title is Micmacs A Tire-Larigot, roughly translated as 'non-stop madness'. Jeunet co-wrote Micmacs with co-writer of Amelie, Guillaume Laurant.
Micmacs tells the story of Bazil (Dany Boon) and a team of eccentric salvage collectors as he tries to bring down two arms dealers.
In Morocco, Bazil's father is killed by a land mine left over from a previous war. Many years later, Bazil is working in a video shop when he is shot by a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting outside. He doesn't die. Unsure of whether or not to operate, the surgeon flips a coin and decides to leave the bullet lodged in his brain.
Bazil looses his apartment with all his possessions and there's someone else in his position at the video shop. Homeless and practically penniless, Bazil hits the streets and starts busking for money where he meets 'Slammer' (Jean-Pierre Marielle) who 'adopts' Bazil and introduces him to his oddball family.
Bazil discovers the two weapons manufacturers that made the land mine that killed his father and the bullet that is stuck in his head have offices in the same street, conveniently across the road from each other. Bazil, with the help of his new friends, plot to take down the arms dealers.
Jeunet has such an exquisite eye for detail. Every character has a fascinating and unique back story; from Slammer who was almost killed by a guillotine but it got stuck; to Fracasse (Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon) who said that he made the Guinness World Record for the furtherest human cannon ball back in 1977 but he lost his certificate; and Remington (Omar Sy) an ethnographer who constantly speaks in cliches! Tiny Pete (Michel Cremades) is an elderly man who can lift almost anything and creates masterpieces out of the junk they collect, Calculette (Marie-Julie Baup) is the daughter of a surveyor and a dressmaker and a whizz with numbers.
The sets are gorgeous. The house in the salvage yard is made up entirely of junk and filled with Tiny Pete's inventions. Even the car that Bazil drives around oozes with Jeunet-ness in that signature tone of green. Make sure you keep an eye out for posters advertising the film within the actual film!
With schemes elaborate and crazy enough to out do all of the Ocean's 11 films put together, Micmacs is a testament to what people can do if they put their minds to something.
Jeunet has out-Jeuneted himself, I couldn't stop laughing. There's a scene where Fracasse tempts a security dog with a sausage, it was almost like the dog had taken acting lessons with its response! I guess you had to be there...
There is a deeper side to the story, towards the end we get to know rival arms dealers Marconi (Nicolas Marie) and de Fenouillet (Andre Dussollier) and just what exactly their business means - killing and maiming people. Jeunet deals with this in a very subtle, tactful way.
Thing I learnt: Contortionists should not be kept in the refrigerator; Dominique Pinon can stick more spoons on his head than anyone I know; James Bond could learn a thing or two from these guys.
Tres magnifique! Another film to watch over and over again.
Nine out of ten.