What I’m watching: a disappointing film from an accomplished directorDate: 2/21/2022 On Netflix: “BigBug”
When I saw that Netflix was going to present the new film from French writer and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet I was quite excited.
Jeunet is one of the most interesting directors in the past 30 years. Starting with “Delicatessen” in 1991, Jeunet and his collaborator Marc Caro created a dark world in which humanity could still find its way.
The team then created “City of Lost Children,” a multi-layered science fiction film, in 1995. His success with his first two movies – both art house films filmed in French – led him to being offered the job of directing “Alien Resurrection,” his first, and to this date only, big studio American film.
Most people probably know him from “Amélie,” his 2001 film that garnered several Academy Award nominations and was his prominent film in this market.
He has done several films since and I loved his 2009 film “Micmacs,” an anti-war film.
Jeunet manages to combine many elements in his films, including silent film-style slapstick and mime with fantasy, horror and science fiction. I find his work really compelling.
So that’s why when I saw his latest film on Netflix, I thought this would be an opportunity for the filmmaker to reach a very wide audience.
It’s too bad that this film is not his best work.
“BigBug” is set in 2045, a time when the development of robotics and artificial intelligence have allowed humans to turn over many tasks to some very smart robots. In one house in an unnamed city, Alice (Elsa Zylberstein) lives with her daughter. She is divorced and a date with his son have come over. Adding tension to the evening is the arrival of her ex-husband and his fiancée, who are on their way to a resort to get married. An older neighbor who is looking for her dog comes over, as well.
With all the characters in the house, the four robotic servants decide to seal off the house to anyone else, trapping the humans. They learn through TV broadcasts there is an apparent revolt involving the Yonyx, the most intelligent group of robots.
The humans do not interact well together under the stress of the imprisonment, and the house robots take the opportunity of attempting to become more like the humans. The humans try everything they know to escape.
Everything changes when a Yonyx turns up at the door. He is contemptuous of both the humans and the household robots. The design for the character is very reminiscent of that of Robocop, only we can fully see the android’s face, which is punctuated by a set of large fake teeth.
The film has a tremendous design sense, and its bright colors are in opposition to the dark events of the story.
Part of the film’s problem is that Jeunet opens the film cold. There is no set-up to the story. The viewers are simply thrust into the middle of this time, place and characters. While many filmmakers take that approach, with this movie it creates a level of confusion.
It takes a while to understand just what is happening, and in the meantime the characters reveal themselves as not being very sympathetic.
It is only when the Yonyx arrives that we get a good handle on this story.
I was disappointed by this film, as I think it was too muddled and the characters too cartoony and frantic. I’m glad I watched it, though, as I am a fan of the director.
If you’re interested in discovering Jeunet, you can see three of his films online. “Delicatessen,” “City of Lost Children” and “Micmacs” are all available to watch on Prime and Vudu, among other streaming services.
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