At the center of the story is poor Bazil played by Dany Boon, whose father was killed by stepping on a landmine and who as an adult just happens to be in the wrong place and gets shot in the head. He awakens to find that the bullet is lodged there permanently and could kill him at any time, and on top of that he has neither a home nor a job. Wandering and panhandling, he meets a man on the streets of Paris who sees right away that Bazil is in need of “a family.” The man takes him to a junkyard heap where he introduces him to a quirky band of characters who live together in an ingenious underground home. This warm and wacky group includes a contortionist, a human calculator, a Guinness record-holder for Human Cannon Ball distance, a maker of fabulous animatronics machines and others all recycling the world’s garbage for art and profit.

When Bazil stumbles upon the people who made the landmine that killed his father and the bullet that changed his life, both arms dealers in offices just across the street from one another, he feels compelled to do something to stop them. His newfound family is all too happy to help. The ensuing schemes pit the arms dealers against one another and use all the skills these junk repurposers possess to a hilarious end.

Jeunet knows how to use visuals to move a story along like no one else. There are times it feels like the best of silent film; Dany Boon’s face is reminiscent of Harold Lloyd. But the script and wordplay are also pitch perfect. I laughed out loud more in this film than I have in a very long time. Just as in Amelie, the world Bazil and his friends inhabit is pure fantasy surrounded by a very real Paris.

I’d recommend this to anyone who needs to laugh and isn’t put off by subtitles or a cast of mainly unknown faces. It really is fabulous. And my mother liked it, too. (In its native France, Micmacs‘ full title is Micmacs à tire-larigot, which translates as “Nonstop Shenanigans.” )

The White Ribbon reminds me of Ingmar Bergman; the stark visuals create a sense of foreboding and you are sucked into a bleak world filled with dark mysteries. The entire film takes place in a pre-World War One German village lorded over by The Baron on his estate. In the first scene, the Village Doctor falls and breaks his collarbone because “someone” strung wire across the road to trip his horse. And from this opening scene until the end, bad things happen at every turn. Children are tortured. People die in accidents or suicides. Barns burn. Relationships fall apart and people are generally brutal to one another. And it is all shot absolutely gorgeously in black and white.

The central mystery is who hurt the children and the doctor. The multiple villagers’ stories are narrated by The School Teacher. It is his view of these dark happenings that is told many years later looking back on it all. The one light storyline in the film is his courtship of a young woman who is the nanny to the Baron’s twins.

Much was written about this film depicting the society that created fascism and how the children of the film would be ripe to turn on the Jews because of being raised in this strict Protestant mode. And while that may be true, you are left at the end with more questions than answers. The film is more a series of scenes than a full story. Call me old fashioned for wanting a screenplay to have a beginning, middle and end. Perhaps the ending is implied – the fascism that followed. But at the end of this 145-minute film, I was expecting to find out who done it, or why it was done or something more than was delivered.

The White Ribbon is a film you definitely need to be willing to work at seeing. Be prepared for a disconcerting, depressing two and a half hours and a pretty unsatisfying ending. As arty as I am, and I do love a good Bergman film, I think this film is highly over-rated.

(Viewing note: if you are semi-blind like me, make sure you have a BIG screen to watch the DVD because for some reason the subtitles on this one are really, really small.)

The film begins with Espósito, a retired Federal Justice Agent, deciding to write a book about an unresolved case that has become a life-long obsession. In flashback we meet him on the day that his life changed. He is a bureaucrat who works very hard at not working, but when he is reluctantly sent to the site of a gruesome crime, he is shocked to see the lifeless body of a young woman who was raped and murdered. This sight shakes him out of his complacency, and he becomes passionately engaged in a search for the killer and justice for the dead woman’s loving husband. He is aided in this quest by his lovable drunken assistant, Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella).

At the same time a woman comes into his life — another life-long obsession. Irene Menéndez Hastings (Soledad Villamil) is a beautiful, intelligent judge who he falls instantly in love with but hasn’t the nerve to follow through. Their relationship simmers under the surface of the crime investigation as they work side-by-side, and his decision to write the book brings them together again.

The film adaptation was written, directed, edited and produced by Juan José Campanella with whom Ricardo Darín has made three films. It is a very good pairing. The script is intelligent, with great twists and turns, wonderful dialogue, funny and sad moments, and serious questions about morality and ethics. The camerawork is also worth noting, especially one shot that stood out for me where we begin high over a stadium and zoom in to Benjamín’s face. [VFX but stunning nonetheless.]

What the movie is about ultimately is love: Esposito’s love of Irene and hers for him, the widower’s undying love for his murdered wife, dear Pablo’s love for his friend Esposito, and even the perverse obsessive love that was the impetus for the horrible crime. How each of them expresses their love ultimately shapes their life. It is a brilliant film worth seeing if you can in a theater. If not, grab it when it comes out on DVD. I’m sure I will want to watch it again; it’s that good.

Meanwhile, at a high class investigative agency, a nicely dress gentleman is asking for background info on him. The Blomkvist dossier is delivered to him by a strange but clearly very bright punk girl, Lisbeth. Along with the other info, she adds, “He was set up.” Soon Mikael is contacted by Henrik Vanger, a retired industrialist and former head of the Vanger Group. He offers Mikael an intriguing job as an investigative journalist. 40 years earlier Vanger’s 16 year old niece, Harriet, the apple of his eye, disappeared. Every year on his birthday, he receives a reminder that he believes is from her killer. Since he is an old man, he wants to find the murderer before he dies.

Mikael moves up to the remote island where all the Vangers live and is given all of the evidence that has been collected over these four decades. Reading through the files, begins to understand why Vanger included his entire family in the list of suspects. They take dysfunctional to a whole new level with several of them being Nazis, others that have stopped speaking to one another and too many secrets to name. As Mikael digs he comes to several dead ends. But unbeknownst to him, Lisbeth has hacked into his hard drive and in doing some investigating on her own, unravels one particularly vexing clue. She sends him a not so anonymous email and the two of them team up to solve the case.

Lisbeth is one damaged girl. Not that we know what it is about, but she has to report to a state appointed guardian on a regular basis and since her old guardian has just had a stroke, she is set up with a new one who turns out to be a sadistic misogynist. But Lisbeth shows him that she may be small but she is hardly a victim.

Together Mikael and Lisbeth make one of the stranger detective couplings out there. She is a twenty-something Goth/Punk and he is a pretty normal middle-aged professional. But they need each other and as screwed up as she may be, he lets her be. Perhaps it is just good writing, but there is very little in the film that seems gratuitous, including the violence. Lisbeth and Mikael’s relationship is what it is. The mystery plays out with bits of stories intertwining until finally it all comes together for a very satisfying conclusion.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the highest grossing movie of all time in Sweden. And already they are talking about an American version with Clooney, Pitt or Depp stepping into the Mikael role with either Kristen Stewart or Carey Mulligan as Lisbeth. It will no doubt change considerably from this version. I like the original for its non-Hollywood treatment, but if they have to make it with Clooney, so be it. Meanwhile, I recommend you see this one. It is a very good thriller!

That night, Do-joon goes out alone and gets drunk. The next day, a girl is found murdered, and witnesses say they saw him following her. The police pick him up and before you know it, he has signed a confession. Mother knows he didn’t do it, but he can’t remember what happened. Nevertheless, he is thrown in jail. Somehow Mother hires a very well connected lawyer, but his brilliant suggestion is to let Do-joon go to a mental hospital for a few years instead of jail. Mother is having none of it and takes it upon herself to find the real killer.

This thriller is played pretty low key and straight (though there are flashes of comedy throughout), and there are many places that make you hold your breath or jump from your seat. The director Joon-ho Bong peels back the layers of this story slowly but in such an engaging fashion, the twists seem to come entirely unforced. The schoolgirl Ah-jung who was murdered was not what she seemed. Mother and Do-joon share some secrets that are better left unknown. And by the time you get to the end of this murder mystery, your perceptions have been churned to pulp.

There was something about this film that felt very European to me and I mean that as a compliment. None of the characters are what they seem on first glance. Every little story point is not tied up and there is a lot of gray when it comes to right and wrong. As tortured as Mother’s logic becomes, it feels real. It is a smart script and it is beautifully shot. See it in a theater if you can. I recommend it to Hitchcock lovers everywhere.