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From the director of such films like Amelie, Alien: Resurrection, and A Very Long Engagement, comes Micmacs. This is the most imaginative revenge story since Kill Bill with a whole different approach. From what Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director and co-writer, said, Micmacs is French slang for shenanigans and there are plenty of them in the movie. The story begins in such a weird fashion that it sets the tone for the rest of the film. First, a man is killed by a rogue weapon that goes haywire and leaves a son without a father and only a company logo to look at as the killer. Later on, the same son is working at a video shop and happens to stand in the exact angle of a rogue bullet so that it strikes him in the head. Luckily, he survives but unluckily, the surgeon operating flipped a coin and decided to leave the bullet in his head causing random hallucinations at random times which he can’t control. Again, with the bullet, the only clue he has is another company logo.
After losing his job at the video rental store, his apartment, and everything else he knows, he stumbles across a motley crew of people just like him living in a trash dump. I think you get the symbolism here, they’re the leftover people that others just toss away. While collecting odds and ends for his new trash crew which includes a contortionist, a writer, a stunt devil, machinist, and mother-figure who takes care of all of them, Bazil’s (our main character played by Dany Boon) vehicle breaks down in front of two buildings. The two buildings happen to be competing weapon manufactures who are across the street from each other. Coincidently, the two company’s logos are the same two logos in Bazil’s memory. The company who was responsible for killing his father and the company responsible for the bullet in his head. Now it’s time for revenge.
On his own, Bazil probably couldn’t have done much. But now with his team of has beens and wannabes, he can set off a plan to get sweet sweet revenge on two terrible people. He pits them against each other and the antics that ensue are hilarious and imaginative. It’s a nonstop back and forth battle to see what happens next and who has the upper hand. Throw in some gunmen and plot twists and you have a great creative and entertaining story. Even though the whole movie is in French, you are sure to laugh from the lines, body language, and facial expressions of the characters. An interesting relationship grows out of the trash pile as the story unfolds which is actually pretty cute and you start to root for every member of the trash team while hating the two weapon manufacturer owners even while entering their own private lives.
The shenanigans, or micmacs, start small but keep growing and growing and quickly escalate into the final scenes where the plan all comes together and Bazil gets more than just revenge for himself. Find this film. I believe it’s already on DVD in France but just making its rounds in the United States. It’s getting a limited release but should be opening in a decent amount of theaters as time goes by.
This post is part of our SXSW Film Festival coverageThe South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW® is the premier destination for discovery. The internationally acclaimed, nine-day Film Festival celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent, with a truly diverse program ranging from provocative documentaries to subversive Hollywood comedies.Visit South by Southwest’s Official Website
Cyrus is an interesting story from the Duplass brothers about a guy down on his luck who finds the girl of his dreams. One problem, she’s really close to her only son…who’s 21 and still lives at home. Let’s back up a bit. We join John, played by John C. Reilly, as he continues to live his mundane single life after splitting with his ex-wife (Catherine Keener) seven years before. He’s still on good terms and pretty close to his ex-wife but she and her fiancé want him to get on with his own life and find somebody else. They invite him to a party which he reluctantly goes to and eventually makes an ass of himself in the process. But in the same night at the same party, he meets Molly, played by Marissa Tomei, and they hit it off right away…in a quirky way. The dialogue between them and throughout the movie is hilariously awkward. The only thing more awkward is Molly’s son Cyrus, played by Jonah Hill, and the relationship the mother and son have together.
If you’re a fan of the MacGruber sketch on SNL, you’ll love this film. If you’re not a fan, you’ll still love this film! It was hilarious. It’s a nonstop comedy mixing NSFW jokes with a plot which pokes fun at all super-spy/evil villain movies. Granted, I saw it at the World Premiere at the South By Southwest Film Festival where almost everyone wanted to see the film and was laughing and cheering the whole time, but I think that attitude will translate to theaters around the country. I kept thinking to myself, if I was in a regular theater on a Friday or Saturday night, would I still be laughing this much? I think I would. This is definitely a movie to take a group of friends to. You’ll be laughing at MacGruber and you’ll be laughing at each other for laughing at it. But how could they turn this short sketch that always ends in a fatal disaster into a feature length film? Well, let me tell you…
Pelada was such an amazing film. You get one of those feelings like “Am I really watching this right now?” I really hope this gets picked up by someone and in time for the World Cup this year when everyone cares about soccer (in America) again. Pelada tells the story of two Americans who love the sport of soccer. They’ve played virtually their whole lives, in college, but weren’t signed to a national or major team. However, they still play all the time and they’re usually asked why. The only answer they can give is that it’s for the love of the game and they can’t imagine life without it. They play pickup games and they’re not alone. Pelada follows these two on a journey across the world playing soccer games, learning about other cultures, and in the end…themselves.
Heading into college early as a seventeen year-old, Aaron (Kyle Gallner) had a lot of growing up to do. He did just that in his first year away from family and friends…primarily his mother who influenced and controlled many aspects of his life. One thing she controlled was his class schedule, but as she left, his father gave him so advice: to not mess up like he did. Aaron decided that he wanted to take a drawing class since that was his passion instead of a mechanical elective which was pretty much just like the rest of his academic classes. His teacher didn’t let him leave his class since it was such a big opportunity, but Aaron took the drawing class anyway on top of his already heavy load. This is where he met Linda (Laura Allen), a slightly older student who came back to college. One thing led to another and she invited him back to her place for dinner. Aaron got dressed up and was ready to go on a date with this hot cougar but when he got to the house he met someone he didn’t know about or expect…her daughter. Her fourteen year-old daughter.
This animated film was really surprising. I missed the first screening because way too many people showed up to see it. The screening I got to attend was in was packed too. At first I didn’t know if it was full because of local support (the filmmaker and many people involved with the film were from the city where the festival was taking place, Austin) or if the movie was actually good. Well, both were true.
Sir Michael Caine is Harry Brown. You don’t want to mess with Harry Brown. At first glance, he’s your typical old Englishmen trying to live the rest of his life in the area he knows. However, his community is being overrun by gangs and young kids doing drugs and up to no good. The police don’t have much presence and most of them would rather just leave the area alone rather than do something about the crime. Initially, Harry Brown is the same way…he turns the other cheek until his best friend has enough and decides to take matters into his own hands. His friend didn’t have much luck…but he’s not Harry Brown….and Harry Brown is a badass.
Starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, and Sissy Spacek, Get Low is a story of redemption, forgiveness and reputation. Loosely based on a true story, Get Low is about an old hermit living in the woods who decides to attend his own funeral. Living in isolation for about forty years, Felix Bush started to get a reputation of being a crazy and horrible man. He heard about all these stories about him but didn’t actually know the stories since nobody was actually courageous enough to talk to him. So, naturally, he wanted to hear these stories and knew that people would say them at a funeral eulogy. One problem though, he wasn’t dead. But why does he have to be?
Centurion was the Super Secret TBD Screening at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival. I couldn’t find out any information about which film it was going to be and honestly, when they said it would be Centurion at the theater doors, I had no idea what the movie was and had no time to look it up online. So throughout the entire film, I was trying to figure out if it was an old film or a film that had not come out yet. It’s the latter…it’s planned to come out in the UK in April and there is no planned US release date yet. I couldn’t tell if the film was new or old because it’s a time piece based in the first century and is filmed in a way that puts you back in that time. It’s a bit grungy and definitely not polished with newer techniques and high tech CGI. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t take away from the movie at all, but instead, it adds to it.
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