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I can't resist a movie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Most of you know his work because of Amelie (and if you kept track, he actually directed the Alien Resurrection movie, but let's just forget about that), but I knew him first for Delicatessen, and I think his movies are such a delight to watch. Jeunet just has a lyrical approach to his writing and directing. The creative situations his characters find themselves in, the visionary worlds in which they live (even if they live in present-day), and even the flow of movement in a scene are all so inspiring.

At the beginning of Micmacs, one such scene occurs, and a series of coincidences lead to an unfortunate accident for a video store clerk named Bazil. The choreography of the scene and the movements of the camera drew me in, and a smile spread across my face. That's what it's like watching a Jeunet movie.

Bazil basically ends up with a bullet lodged in his brain, and at any moment, it could move and kill him. After his recovery, he tries to resume his old life, but everyone else has moved on. He has no job and no place to live, and he takes to performing on the street. A fellow street person takes notice of him and takes him to his home, which is a buzzing sort of factory inside a cave of garbage at the dump that is home to many odd characters. The people who live there take damaged goods from the dump and make them new, and Bazil becomes their next project. Pretty soon, they're in a one-sided war with the weapons manufacturers who produced the bullet that's inside Bazil and the mine that killed his father.

In his review of the film, Roger Ebert wrote, "The invention upstages the story without seeming necessary to it... The production values of the film are splendid. Jeunet’s camera is so liberated that 'Micmacs' might as well be animated. But there’s a lack of urgency. The characters seem defined by the requirements of the plot.  ..There’s nobody in the story who much makes us care."

While I agree with all of these sentiments, I still enjoyed the movie. I can see his point about the quirks seeming unnecessary, yet I can cite a lot of unnecessary quirks or details in Jeunet's other movies; they are not central to the story, but they contribute to the movie's vision.

There is definitely a lack of urgency and the characters are following the motions of a plot without the audience feeling much of an emotional connection. That was my one problem with the movie. But to "care" can mean many things, and I think I cared for the endearing nature of the pack of characters as a whole.

The Jeunet sense of humor is in full effect, Max Steiner's music is so pleasant, Dominique Pinon always makes me laugh, and as Ebert says, Jeunet's eye is amazing. These were enough to make me smile and enjoy an afternoon at the movies. It isn't Jeunet's best, but that doesn't make it a bad movie, or even a disappointment from my point of view.