MICMACS (2010, Blu-ray released September 7, 2010 – MSRP $34.99 CAN)
MICMACS! MICMACS! What the hell’s a MICMAC?! I enjoyed all 105-minutes of Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s latest fantastical opus on Blu-ray but was never once given a hint at what a Micmac might be!
All right, I’m exaggerating. It’s quite clear that the Micmacs are supposed to be the ragtag band of misfits at the centre of the film – a collection of characters that feel right at home in this, a very stylistically typical Jeunet film.
The Micmacs come to the rescue of a former video store clerk, Bazil (Dany Boon), now homeless and jobless after a prolonged hospital stay due to a near death experience with a stray bullet. He quickly becomes one of them, a member of a very talented and strange family, and with the Micmacs by his side, crafts a caper that will see him exact revenge on the warring corporate entities responsible for his injuries. Hijinks ensue, romance blossoms and everyone gets what’s coming to them in the the end.
I’m a big fan of pretty much anything that Jeunet touches, outside of his dreadful Hollywood experiment of a few years past (Alien: Resurrection). And while Micmacs can’t hold a candle to his work with former artistic partner Marc Caro, or his damn-near-perfect film, Amelie, it’s certainly inventive and a wonderfully good time. If I were Jeunet, however, I would steer clear of the plot heavy elements of these productions – in this case, the storyline dealing with the two warring armament companies – as his work seems to only truly sing when focusing on character moments unfettered from the bonds of driving action.
Micmacs looks absolutely stunning on Blu-ray. But I would expect nothing less of a newly-minted Jeunet film. There’s detail aplenty, colours are vivid and blacks are deep and inky. This is a great looking disc! The French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track isn’t quite as spectacular as the crisp, perfect visuals but that’s not to say it’s bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the disc sounds quite good. It’s unfortunate, however, that there’s no English dub track included. I would never partake, myself, being a no-dub kind of guy. But I could totally see my niece and nephew enjoying Micmacs if they didn’t have to struggle through English subtitles. It’s really too bad.
The sole true let down of the Micmacs Blu-ray disc is in the extras department – there’s only one short, 9-minute interview with the director. I mean, it’s a pretty nice little chat but compared to the bevy of bonuses on the French Blu-ray (55-minute “making-of” documentary, 45-minute Director’s Master Class, director’s commentary and so much more!), this is a disappointment.
That said, I’m just happy to have Micmacs on a domestic Region A playable Blu, thanks to eOne Films, here in Canada. And you folks south of the 49th will be happy to know you can finally go ahead and import a copy from Amazon.ca, to safely play in your US Region A Blu-ray players. Now, is anyone with me in hoping that we’ll see Jeunet’s City of Lost Children and A Very Long Engagement on Blu-ray sometime soon?!
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