Why, oh why, is summer the worst movie theater season for anyone with an IQ higher than a rock? Lucky for us non-neanderthals, Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s new film Micmacs is a welcome breath of fresh air during these dreadfully stifling summer blockbuster months. This film is sheer movie magic, a triumphant story of eccentric outsiders determined to fight “the man”— in this case, the comically evil heads of two weapons corporations. It is tender, imaginative, and two hours of delightfully silly fun. Jeunet’s other films, Delicatessen, City of Lost Children and the most well known in America, Amélie, have become global cult classics. Micmacs is sure to follow, tout suite.

City of Lost Children

Jeunet’s unique aesthetic possesses an unmistakable visual, he is a master of creating strange otherworldly scenarios. Micmacs is the pinnacle of his rather steampunk-ish tastes, a world where miraculous gadgets are created in an underground lair of forgotten junk and every character certainly feels like he or she exists in an alternate reality.

Delicatessen