In common with most fairy tales, Micmacs begins with an orphaning. In a galloping prologue, Bazil (Boon, the distinctive looking fellow from Angel-A and Welcome to the Sticks) loses a father to a landmine and, later, in adulthood, develops speech and behavioural tics when a drive-by shooting leaves a bullet lodged in his brain. Homeless and jobless, he soon finds a makeshift family among a subterranean tribe of human Wombles who survive and craft bizarre inventions from other people’s garbage.
The gang, including mumsy Tambouille (Moreau), numbers whiz Calculette (Marie-Julie Baup), human cannonball Fracasse (Jeunet regular Pinon) and sulky contortionist Caoutchouc (Ferrier), soon set their sights on the arms industry with a convoluted plan to pitch two rival arms manufacturers against one another. Imagine The Goonies with the original cast of The Hills Have Eyes and you’re halfway there.
Shenanigans ensue though conventional plotting goes out the window. It hardly matters. With the usual suspects in place – set designer Aline Bonetto, costume designer Madeline Fontaine – Amelie director M. Jeunet has created his most visually arresting film since Delicatessen. The film’s campaign against arms dealers gets rather lost in the grubby splendour of it all but you won’t see a prettier picture all year.