Image: www.affrenchfilmfestival.org
Film might be a glossy medium, initially shining with the sleekness of celluloid, and now more commonly looking the picture of pristine digital projection; however the features of Michel Gondry appear anything but shiny. The polish most movies aspire to, he rejects. Whether using practical, in-camera effects in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, making a film about fans crafting their own versions of cinema classics in Be Kind Rewind, or enjoying the simplicity of watching real-life kids ride the bus home on their last day of high school in The We and the I, the writer/director’s career has been one of championing the organic and authentic side of his preferred art form.
Take his latest offering, Microbe & Gasoline (Microbe et Gasoil), for example, in which Gondry builds a car out of a bed frame, household doors, a lawnmower engine and other items found in a junkyard or discarded on the streets. More accurately, his teenage protagonists Daniel (debutant Ange Dargent) and Théo (Théophile Baquet, War of the Buttons) do the tinkering and toiling, but there’s no mistaking the parallels between their on-screen efforts to make a vehicle unlike any other and those of the French filmmaker capturing their fictional exploits from behind the lens.
Accordingly, as it charts the two titular outsiders nicknamed for their small size and fondness for all things mechanical, respectively, Microbe & Gasoline represents the handmade, inventive and individualist spirit that has inspired so many people to fashion something from nothing, to craft an item that’s purely their own, and to discover their identities in the catharsis of creativity. When newcomer Théo arrives in Daniel’s class, a tentative friendship is formed, finding its basis in imaginative adventures and acts of self-expression. Their dreams are bigger than their ordinary lives of taunting peers, girl troubles and family disputes, but, as they source the materials they need to construct an automobile and then set off on a driving holiday around the French countryside, they’re also modest and achievable.
Largely eschewing the surrealist aesthetic flourishes that made the likes of previous fare such as Mood Indigo and The Science of Sleep stand out, Gondry stays observational in a film that channels its ingenuity into its story, rather than its presentation. Visual amusement surrounds the centerpiece vehicle, a house on wheels that typifies the term ramshackle, yet elsewhere the helmer reigns in his trademark quirkiness. Following a rather predictable but always pleasant, heartfelt and humorous coming-of-age narrative that segues from character study to road trip revelations, he provides an astute insight into the reasons why these children seek something different, rather than using his own style to offer an example of the aftermath. For a filmmaker that has made a career out of matching his thematic ideas with his approach, it is both a surprising move and a way to apply his sensibilities on a more intimate scale.
If Gondry’s restraint gives Microbe & Gasoline an atmosphere not of his usual whimsy, but of joyous authenticity, the naturalistic performances of his two leads provide another layer of sincerity. With only one preceding film credit between them, Dargent and Baquet perfect their task of ensuring their charismatic characters look and feel like regular, rough-around-the-edges teens struggling with their senses of selves and their hopes for the future. Playing Daniel’s mother, Audrey Tatou (Chinese Puzzle) comprises the feature’s biggest name, though this is never her movie. In fact, though downplayed in the story and deglamourised in appearance, Tatou’s involvement grates against the otherwise homemade sheen that makes the movie not just memorable, but a fitting embodiment of Gondry’s do-it-yourself artistry.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Microbe and Gasoline (Microbe et Gasoil)
Director: Michel Gondry
France, 2015, 105 mins
Rating: M
Alliance Francaise French Film Festival
Sydney: 1 – 24 March
Melbourne: 2 – 24 March
Canberra: 3 – 24 March
Brisbane: 11 March – 12 April
Perth: 16 March – 7 April
Adelaide: 31 March – 24 April
Casula: 7 – 10 April
Parramatta: 7 – 10 April
Hobart: 28 April – 4 May
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