Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot - 2009)

This cartoonish, slapstick, live-action French movie is charming and silly and we enjoyed it. With super-saturated colors and sets that look like matte paintings, its visuals match up to its comedy. Then add in some drama (the plot is about revenge on rich arms makers who don't care about their victims) and you get the mash-up that is Micmacs. One online fan helped me by posting, "MicMacs à tire l'arigot is difficult to translate. It's not standard French, but slang. MicMacs means 'troubles, puzzle, confusion, etc.' It is used to describe complicated, inextricable and messy situations. À tire l'arigot means, roughly, 'plenty.' It could be translated as 'a s***load of troubles,' 'troubles from everywhere,' or something like that." Director/co-writer Jean-Pierre Jeunet had a big hit in 2001 with Amélie, which was nominated for the Oscar for original screenplay and a tire-l'arigot of other awards. I am familiar with his next one, A Very Long Engagement (2004), but honestly can't remember if I saw it. I didn't see his Delicatessen (1991), but know it was award-winning and popular. Anyway, Jeunet was one reason I wanted to be sure to see Micmacs on the big screen. Another was its winning best costumes, production design, and sound at Cannes (very much deserved!). Once there, we relished the antics of the motley crew exacting the revenge, including Dany Boon as Bazil--the lead character, Julie Ferrier (small part in Paris) as the contortionist, Yolande Moreau (wonderful in Séraphine) as the mom-figure and cook, Dominique Pinon (I wrote about him in Roman de Gare) as Fracasse--the one obsessed with Guinness Records, and all the rest.

Many objects are hurled, arcing across large spaces, plus more Rube Goldberg-type devices (as in Toy Story 3, a few posts ago). The scene with the two guys eating shrimp is hilarious, and, if you saw I Am Love, even more so, as the latter uses the shrimp scene for a different metaphor. Composer Raphäel Beau (his only credits so far are Micmacs and the forthcoming documentary about it), complements the madcap mood perfectly (here's a clip). Personally, I think the trailer gives away un soupçon too much, but here it is. My #2 rule for movies has been broken, as there is not one shot of the Eiffel Tower in Micmacs!