Day 4: La Cité des Enfants Perdus (1995)

Written by Gilles Adrien and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet

What’s it about?

A little girl, Miette, and a carnival strong man, One, team up to look for One’s brother, Denree, who’s been kidnapped by a mad scientist attempting to steal children’s dreams.

Review:

This strange, surreal film is unlike anything many will have seen. Certain comparisons to Jeunet’s Amelie are apt, but for the most part, La Cité des Enfants Perdus is a film all its own. It opens disconcertingly, with a young child visited by Santa. Then another comes down the chimney, followed by another and another. The room begins to spin, the numerous Santas grow increasingly distorted and threatening, and the music becomes increasingly ominous before cutting out to the boy and a strange man strapped in to a machine, large helmets attached to their heads. A scientist is attempting unsuccessfully to steal the boy’s dream, which has turned into a nightmare. This scene perfectly sets up the tone and setting of the film and lets the audience know just what they’re in for.

Not long after, we’re introduced to our leads, One and Miette, a carnival strongman whose brother has been kidnapped by the strange Cyclopses and the young leader of a gang of thieves, forced into crime by the evil conjoined-twin sisters who run her orphanage. Then there’s the opium-addicted flea wrangler, the narcoleptic clones, and the brain in the aquarium. It’s a colorful cast of characters, to say the least, but their strangeness doesn’t overtake the film. At the center of everything is the relationship between One (Ron Perlman) and Miette (Judith Vittet) which gives the film its heart and strong message of family and friendship overcoming all obstacles.

It’s a visually arresting film, with creativity and whimsy dripping from every frame. The design of the world is dark but not oppressing, a tricky line they walk successfully throughout the film. Though many may appreciate the visual elements, the strength of the film is its characters. The story doesn’t have the urgency one might expect, with One and Miette getting into a series of scrapes before they manage to even find where Denree is being held, but this time allows them to build their relationship and grow to trust one another. Time is also spent with the antagonists, who all feel fully fleshed out. Particularly memorable are Daniel Emilfork as the scientist, Krank, Dominique Pinon as the clones, and Geneviève Brunet and Odile Mallet as the twins.

Ron Perlman has been a genre star for years. Known his lead roles in Beauty and the Beast (TV series) and Hellboy, it’s fun to see him in this early role sans the layers of prosthetics he’s most known for acting through (at least to those unfamiliar with FX’s Sons of Anarchy). He’s given plenty to do here and while One, along with most of the other characters, is extreme in his emotions, Perlman’s performance grounds these scenes. The real star of the film, however, is Judith Vittet as Miette, whose strength and spunk is well balanced by her occasional vulnerability. The two have excellent chemistry and even manage to make a troubling betrayal scene work incredibly well before quickly and believably rebounding back to their earlier strong rapport. This relationship alone amkes La Cité des Enfants Perdus a worthwhile view- the rest is icing on the strange, surreal cake.

How Christmassy is it?

Several different Santas make appearances, and memorable ones at that, and the theme of family is incredibly strong. On the scale of Christmas movies (1=Brazil, 5=A Christmas Story), this gets a 4.

You may like it if…

You like fantasy or nightmare-scape films, Ron Perlman, or general bizarreness.

Final thoughts

La Cité des Enfants Perdus is a bizarre, fun, wholly unique film. Check it out.

Kate Kulzick

Moviegoers who ask a little more of their comedies should be sure to see Micmacs immediately.

Micmacs

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s latest film is whimsical, absurd, endearing, and beautiful. It is exactly the sort of thing fans have come to expect from Jeunet: a cast of eccentric personalities, light-hearted treatment of sombre truths, and visuals slightly too fantastic for our world. Should we hold this against him? No; watching Jeunet play to his strengths is a treat.

The film stars Danny Boon as Bazil, a figure reminiscent of a Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton character, who finds himself jobless, homeless, and penniless after he is injured in a drive-by shooting. The bullet lodges in Bazil’s skull, and presents the surgeon with a quandary: he may operate and remove the bullet, thus saving Bazil’s life but rendering him a vegetable, or he may leave the bullet in, thus saving Bazil’s mind but leaving him with an injury that can kill him at any moment. The nurse flips a coin; the surgeon leaves the bullet, and Bazil knows that any moment may be his last.

Bazil quickly falls in with a group of misfits who live in a scrap heap, including the ex-convict Placard (Jean-Pierre Marielle), the human cannonball Fracasse (Dominique Pinon), an inventor of Rube Goldberg-esque machines named, a contortionist, a former ethnographer from the Congo, and a girl with the preternatural ability to calculate anything. In yet another bizarre twist of fate, Bazil discovers the headquarters of the arms company that manufactured the bullet lodged in his skull: it is across the street from the arms company that manufactured the landmine that killed his father. Bazil and his new friends resolve to teach the heads of these two companies (Nicolas Marié and André Dussollier) a lesson in humility.

What follows is not a revenge fantasy. Rather, Bazil and his band of misfits use their wits to get the better of the industrial giants, pitting the two against each other with a series of creative thefts, acts of sabotage, and dirty tricks. Before long, the altitude record for a human cannonball is broken, explosions cause radiators to fly through the air, and a prize collection of famous person’s body parts is stolen (save Matisse’s finger, which is left in place, defiantly raised). Though the stakes are high, Juenet retains a whimsical touch and absurd mood that make this film a successful satire of the global arms industry. Throughout the film, we cheer for the brave clown Bazil and enjoy every cleaver trick and cheeky nod towards the audience. Moviegoers who ask a little more of their comedies should be sure to see Micmacs immediately.

- Dave Robson

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s latest film is a return to form in his original comedic style that was on display in his Delicatessen. A man named Basil is hit by a stray bullet. He recovers thanks to a medical miracle, and when he gets out he teams up with a gang of misfits in order to exact revenge against the people responsible for the bullet’s existence.

As we approach the end of the decade, it seems fitting that this installment of Undertones concern itself with some of the most memorable film scores of the ‘00s. Though the films range in financial or critical success, and opinions may be divided as to the strength of some of the films as a whole, what these scores have in common is a sound that is entirely unique and detrimental to the filmic worlds in which they inhabit. In other words, like any decent film score they quickly remind us of all the thoughts, feelings and reactions garnered during our initial experiences of the films they accompany.

1- Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)

Composer: Clint Mansell

Ask a number of folk what their favorite film score is and there’s a good chance that they’ll reply with Clint Mansell’s string quartet/electronic masterpiece for Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the cult novel, Requiem for a Dream.  Performed by legendary string quartet, Kronos Quartet, the score can be broken into four parts that correspond chronologically by season to the film’s narrative. The most memorable cue, the hypnotic “Lux Aeterna” from the ‘Winter’ portion of the score, has subsequently been used in numerous advertisements, television shows and film and video game trailers in its original form as well as in adaptation. Most notably, the ubiquitous cue was reorchestrated for full orchestra and choir for the The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Jackson, 2002) trailer. The piece was only used in the trailer and not in the film’s score and due to popularity was eventually released as an EP entitled, “Requiem for a Tower”.  Overall Mansell’s score is imbued with a deep sense of melancholy and urgency and, as anyone who has the seen the film can attest, conveys the desperate plight of the film’s ill-fated characters.

2 – Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
Composer: Angelo Badalamenti

Mulholland Drive is David Lynch’s expose of the dark world that exists under the fantasy and glamour of Hollywood. The film begins with silhouettes of couples swing dancing accompanied by a cue, “Jitterbug”, written by long-time Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti in the style of a Glenn Miller number. However, the film’s quirky opening is quickly cut short and aided by the change of mood in Badalamenti’s score we are soon back in the familiar nightmarish terrain of the Lynch universe. The ominous score is probably Badalamenti’s darkest yet and it enhances the cryptic visuals and narrative by acting as an emotional guide for the viewer. An overwhelming sense of dread is felt in the string writing as we travel deeper and deeper into the disturbed narrative of the film. Channelling the intense darkness that permeates Mulholland Drive, Badalamenti’s score also throws as many twists and turns as the film’s narrative alternating between the dense, languid string writing heard in the opening theme (“Mulholland Drive”) to barely audible audio feedback and even to dinner party jazz (“Dinner Party Pool Music”). In Mulholland Drive, Lynch depicts the dualities of Hollywood; that its world is simultaneously shallow and rich, hopeful and desperate and beautiful and grotesque. Badalamenti’s writing, with its juxtaposition of tortured dirges and jazzy whimsy, helps compliment the theme of corrupted dreams that is central to Mulholland Drive.

3 – Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (aka Amélie) (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

Composer: Yann Tierson

Quintessentially French due to its use of culturally codifying elements such as the heavy use of accordion, Yann Tierson’s score to ‘Amélie’ is a magical, musical evocation of the titular character’s wanderings and childlike explorations of her native Paris. After being played some of Tierson’s music by a production assistant, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet promptly purchased previous works by the composer and arranged a meeting to collaborate on the film. From the dizzying excitement of the street music sounds of cues like, “L’Autre Valse D’Amélie” to the stark minimalism of contemplative solo cues such as “Comptine D’un Autre Ete”, Tierson’s score functions as a voice for the introverted and predominantly mute Amélie (Audrey Tautou). Removed from the film, the score still manages to conjure up images of Amélie’s world within le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain; a place full of wonder, excitement, simple pleasures and fascinating people.

4- Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)

Composer: Jon Brion

Having previously worked on Magnolia (1999) together, composer Jon Brion and director Paul Thomas Anderson collaborated once again for the off-beat romantic comedy, Punch-Drunk Love. The film’s score can be split into two markedly different kinds of musical material used to underscore the narrative concerning the film’s lonely protagonist, salesman Barry Egen (Adam Sandler). Firstly, a score of eclectic percussion instrumentation and electronic blips is employed in scenes in which the disgruntled Barry appears to be at boiling point or on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. Brion’s score doesn’t merely reside in the background but breaks the rules of film scoring all together by occasionally obstructing the dialogue occurring on screen. In one scene in which Barry must tackle one of his seven interrogative sisters, abusive phone calls from a woman trying to extort money out of him, and the general chaos of his warehouse working environment, the score builds up so subtly into a confusion of incessant percussion and atonal passages that we are unconsciously brought into a state of utter exacerbation much like that of the unhappy Barry. The second major scoring device used in the film, particularly in scenes involving Barry’s love-interest, Lena (Emily Watson), is a saccharine waltz that seems to evoke the scores of corny romantic films of the 1940s and ‘50s. The character of the waltz stands in stark contrast in the score to the aforementioned percussive agitation that surrounds it. Overall, Brion’s score acknowledges that Barry’s way out of his miserable existence is to break out of his repressed state and find the sort of all-consuming, redemptive love that dreams are made of.

5- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)

Composer: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

It seems that Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have begun to carve out quite the reputation in recent years for scoring the existential Western. Given the cinematic narrative that permeates the music of the rock band of which they are both members, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and the lush soundscapes of Ellis’ instrumental ensemble Dirty Three, it seemed inevitable that the pair would collaborate to work on film scores together. Their first venture, John Hillcoat’s The Proposition (2005) (also written by Cave), saw them scoring for life in the brutal Australian outback of the 1880s. For their next film, Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Ron Hansen’s 1983 novel, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the pair was once again working with the subject of the savage wilderness and the meditations of a tormented antihero. The sparse score accompanies the story of wannabe gunslinger Robert Ford’s obsession with the notorious American folk superstar, Jesse James, and the tragic results of his idolization. Consisting predominantly of strings, celeste and piano with the occasional use of guitar and percussion, the score is haunting and melancholic; a constant reminder that the film, as suggested by the title, will not end well. An overwhelming sadness penetrates the entire film due to the combination of the finely measured performances of Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt in the title roles, the gloomy cinematography of Roger Deakins and of course, the pathos-laden score by Cave and Ellis. The score does not only function as a requiem for the mysterious Jesse James, it is also a window into the thoughts of the deeply disturbed Robert Ford. What Cave and Ellis’ score truly conveys in ‘Jesse James’, is the metaphysical weight of a man who is struggling with his own identity and purpose, forced to live in the shadow of a legendary figure larger than life itself.

Other memorable scores of the ‘00s:

- Gladiator (Scott, 2000) composed by Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard

- A Beautiful Mind (Howard, 2001) composed by James Horner

- Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001) composed by Michael Andrews

- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Jackson, 2002) composed by Howard Shore

- Catch Me if You Can (Spielberg, 2002) composed by John Williams

- The Hours (Daldry, 2002) composed by Philip Glass

- Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005) composed by Gustavo Santaolalla

- The Proposition (Hillcoat, 2005) composed by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

- Pan’s Labyrinth (del Toro, 2006) composed by Javier Navarrete

- There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007) composed by Jonny Greenwood
- The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008) composed by Hanz Zimmer & James Newton Howard

- Clare Norelli

Is it better to live with a bullet lodged in your brain, even if it means you might drop dead any time or would you rather have the bullet taken out and live the rest of your life as a vegetable? Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Is scrap metal worth more than landmines? Can you get drunk from eating waffles? Can a woman fit inside a refrigerator? What is the human cannonball world record? (allmovieguide)

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Micmacs à tire-larigot is the new film from Amelie auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  It’s his first film since his 2004 international hit A Very Long Engagement.  His latest looks to be a return to his early more aggressive visual style of something like Delicatessen.  The Visuals are as strong as ever, as one would expect from the great Jeunet.  The film is something of a satire of world arms trade.  The international trailer looks quite promising.  The film is currently in post production but is set for an October 28^th release in France.  It should probably make its way over to North America by early 2010.