Review: CITY OF LOST CHILDREN

THE SINGULAR BURDEN OF SOLITUDE SPARE NO ONE, NOT EVEN GREAT MINDS

Directors: Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Gilles Adrien, Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro
Cast: Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 12 mins
Released: 01/09/95

Plot: When One’s adopted little brother is kidnapped by the evil Krank he teams up with an orphan girl called Miette, together they embark on a fairy tale journey to rescue him.

Review: City of Lost Children is a dark fairy tale from the guys that brought us Delicatessen and Amelie. Imagine Charles Dickens, Tim Burton, The Borthers Grimm, Terry Gilliam, Guillermo Del Toro and Jacques Tati all getting together and making a film while David Lynch is shouting ideas at them. Yeah, okay I know that requires a lot of imagination, not least because some of them are very dead, but that’s exactly what the creative minds of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet have done. The world they have created is so fully formed you never stop to question things, regardless of how strange they get. And they get very strange. This film has trained killer fleas, octopus women, talking brains, crazy clones and men with very sensitive hearing. Elaborate sequences of events (there is a great one where the camera follows Miette's tear) do not seem contrived or out of place. In a similar vein, look out for the ingenious mouse based key retrieval system.

The story begins at a sideshow where the childlike One, played by Ron Perlman (yes, him off of Hellboy) is the strong-man. One’s little brother Denree is kidnapped by some strange men with mechanical eyes. One embarks on a mission to rescue him by following the strange Cyclops men. He inadvertently gets caught up in a robbery being undertaken by a group of street children who work under the menacing Octopus. With the help of one of the orphans, Miette, One finds his way, via some very peculiar characters to the oil rig hide out of the evil Krank.

Krank was created by a scientist who also created a wife for himself and six narcoleptic clones. He also created a friend in the form of Irvin, a Brain in a fish tank. Krank is the cleverest man alive, unfortunately he cannot dream which is causing him to prematurely age. To overcome this Krank develops a way of stealing dreams from children. Of course there is a set back - the children are always scared - so all he ever gets from them are nightmares.

This film is visually stunning; the sets are huge bleak cityscapes with surreal Gilliam-esque twisted architecture. Sometimes the camera just pans up and up and up revealing more and more of this world. The most striking thing about the film is its distinctive colour palette. To achieve the bizarre effect the actors wore very light makeup and then the colour balance was altered to give them a natural skin tone. This gives the impression of a real world where even colours are not quite as we know them.

The special effects are great too; this is a film where CGI is used really well. Dominique Pinon, who plays seven roles, gets to interact with himself a lot, and not once did it feel unreal. The actors are all brilliant, Ron Perlman has such an expressive face (he’s classically trained don’t you know) and the kids are all great, especially Miette. The costumes are by Jean-Paul Gautier and fit into the world perfectly. I think this is a film that really needs to be seen at least twice to be fully experienced, the first time to appreciate the story and the second to soak up the visuals.

Obviously it might be a bit too weird for some; I can understand why people wouldn’t like it. The narrative is a bit weak and can be confusing and the pace slows a bit in the middle. It is the acting of Perlman and Judith Vittet and the genuine relationship they portray that really keeps the film going through these points. If you are into films like Dark City, Brazil and Pan's Labyrinth and don’t mind concentrating a bit when watching a film, even one that’s a fairy tale, then I’m sure you will enjoy this.

You know what? I’m gonna say it, yeah, I’m definitely gonna say it…C’est Fantastique!

There I said it.