Reviews with Ivan Nagar (Microbe Et Gasoil) + Why you should watch 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

MICROBE ET GASOIL

2015, MICHAEL GONDRY

BY IVAN NAGAR

Straight off the bat, I would like to say that Microbe et Gasoil has to be one of the most charmingly sweet and funny films I’ve seen in a while. Going in to watch a French coming of age film by Michael Gondry (of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fame) I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping it would be nice and pleasant watch; but I certainly didn’t expect to leave the cinema after 2 hours with the biggest smile on my face. Microbe et Gasoil is a surprisingly profound film and incredibly insightful but never dishonest or cheesy. Gondry maintains a perfect balance between different emotions throughout, and the film is as filled with hysterically funny moments as it is with thought-provoking adolescent themes.

There’s a scene halfway into the film where Daniel’s (Microbe in the title) brother gives him a GPS (actually an iphone idk why they didn’t just call it that) (Calvin’s note: quirkiness for quirkiness’ sake perhaps?) and when Daniel asks him why he’s being so nice to him. The brother’s silence says a lot, the film doesn’t exploit this with more screen time or background music for that scene, which is the great thing about this film, it never cashes in on clichés and remains so truthful to its characters and their realistic, relatable personalities.

This was not a very ‘big’ film so I don’t know if you will get to see this very easily but if you get a chance to, then don’t think twice, the film will leave the sweetest taste in your mouth.

RATING 4 / 5

 

 

 

Why you should watch 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

 

I still haven't seen Microbe Et Gasoil yet but Ivan's excellent review certainly has me intrigued. Since we're on the topic of coming-of-age films though, I might as well go review one myself. Moonrise Kingdom, Stand by Me, Son of Rambo...list goes on and on about films I could talk about.

 

Today though I think I'll stick with one I've most recently seen, 2012's Beasts of the Southern Wild. Before I get into the film itself, have a listen to its soundtrack:

 

'Beautiful', I think, is the perfect word to surmise this whole film. In fact I'm going to do my best to limit...in fact, completely eschew any number of images I put in this review as the best way to get into Beasts of the Southern Wild is with a completely blank visual slate insofar as your expectations of the film is concerned. It's a fantasy drama that's both realistically grounded in reality, and yet at other points mystically transports you into this otherworldly place that's both within the world created by the film, coupled with that directorial touch of Benh Zetlin which makes it just...words cannot really describe why this film makes one feel the way it does. In fact a true review would be a bit futile, so I might as well just focus on specific parts of the film I loved; though I loved the film on the whole (yes I know I'm dragging and not making much sense, it's a Friday)

 

It centres on the journey, both outwardly and inwardly, of young Hushpuppy (played wonderfully by Quvenzhané Wallis) into adulthood as she deals with all manner of incidents befalling her tight-knit bayou community: melting icecaps, an ailing father, government interference and the imminent threat of the titular beasts. That's the plot but if I'm to be frank the film isn't really driven at all by it, which I loved: despite all of the oddities and fantastical elements, the fact that it maintains the tonality of a 'slice of life' feature film is pretty darn impressive. A lot of this is helped of course by Wallis who does the almost unthinkable for a child actor which is to act as the anchor of the film: rather than just some cutesy fodder or unrealistically sage 'man-child', she carries the film wonderfully with her very naturalistic performance.

 

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Perhaps even more impressive though is Dwight Henry as her father Wink: representing the coarser but yet no less admirable qualities of humanity through his craggy, blunt, intense and yet ultimately very moving performance. I thoroughly loved every moment Henry's characterization brought him full circle from the man who in the past had loved and lost, to the 'tough-love' father who beset by illness maintains a defiant, defensive stance, and ultimately revealing in the film's closing moments the tender soul of a truly divine being, in his own very earthly way. It's a marvellous performance that's oh so close to usurping Ben Whishaw as my 2012 Best Supporting Actor (another performance I do love a great deal)

 

The cinematography and script of this film are in their own ways highly minimalistic, there's of course that very precise sense of style to the fantasy elements, but what the film does so well is in making them all seamlessly merge together in what I consider the closest film, alongside The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, to verge on true poetic cinema. Instead of an image, I'll close this short review with the opening sequence of the film: watch. And then watch the film.