MUBI

There have been other more succesful attempts at adult or dark fairy tales. THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is another film that tries to present a dream of dark and troubling things…with perhaps a bit too much humor injected into the mix.

Jeunet and Caro’s film is a visual effect and set design wonder. That being said, it is a rather disjointed and ridiculous tale about science gone wrong, orphans, conjoined twins who are using said orphans to commit theft (ala Fagin), clones who sing happy birthday to a brain in a tank, Ron Perlman speaking French (?), dreams, nightmares, industrial nightmares, men who have sought a religion that allows them to see with the aid of a strange cyclops-machine-device, mind-controlling circus fleas, a dreary city, and Santa Claus drinking liquor.

Sadly, the film is not as exciting or eclectic as that list of oddities promises. In practice, THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is a rather dull enterprise that fails to see the inherent magic in its magic-less series of events. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are rolling in their grave.

So much set creation and art direction, yet why do I feel I have been deprived of a profound cinematic experience?

let’s get to the story:

The film opens with a warm scene by the window, snow falling, a tol soldier clapping its cymbals. A boy sits in his pen, and then, Santa comes down the chimeney! Hooray! But then, another Santa drops down…and then another…and then another…until soon there’s a dozen Santas wandering around the room! It’s a nightmare! The boy starts to cry and become terrified. Soon, we realize that what we’re watching is a horrible dream gone awry; a bald mad scientist sits in a magnificent steam-punk chair. He screams in horror.

It turns out that this mad scientist, Krank, has been kidnapping children from the titular city. Why? Well, not yet…

Meanwhile, at the circus, Ron Perlman- I mean, strongman ONE, is doing his act. Afterwards, we see he is quite attached to his “little brother”, Denree, a little boy with a compulsive need to eat any food in sight.

But then, mysterious men with machine eyes come in and kidnap the boy!
One to the rescue!

Meanwhile, a pair of women known as the Octupus are running a theft ring using orphans, much like Fagin. They are conjoined at the feet, and seem to speak in tandem or complete each other statements. In any case, they behave almost as a single entity, scratching the other’s limb when they itch, or sharing taste and blowing smoke out the other mouth when one lights up. In any case, they’re generally unpleasant and quite mean.

We single out our heroine, Miette (which means Crumb) a cold little girl who is street smart and tough. She is one of the Octupus’ orphans. She runs into One by chance (which, for some reason, is Jeunet’s modus operandi when trying to move the plot foward. It gets more and more annoying as the film goes on.)

One hears that Miette knows where to find the cyclops, which One knows took Denree.

Somehow, Miette and One team up and go to the Cyclops….meanwhile, we see Krank and his “family”: a series of clones all played by dominique Pinon (the best performance(s) in the film), a midget woman, and Uncle Irvin, a talking brain in a fish tank who sees using a fish-eye lense and speaks through LP phones.

We find out from Irvin that they are all creations of one brilliant mad scientist, including Krank. And all turned out wrong. The little woman was to be his wife…but she turned out like a small person (she’s also allergic to steel). The clones all randomly got sleeping sickness (though this is almost never addressed in full…only partially…but still). Irvin is…well, a brain…who happens to get migraines. And Krank. His problem is that he lost the ability to dream. Because of this, he is prematurely old.

It is implied (until later, where it is actually shown) that Krank’s defect made him rage against his creator…

In any case, the Krank hopes to invade the drams of children in hopes that he may ease his suffering…but all keep having horrible nightmares. He hopes to find the perfect child, one with no nightmares and one that won’t get scared.

So we have the conjoined twins who are trying to find the missing Miette, evil cyclops henchmen, and a bunch of test-tube weirdos living on an oil platform in the middle of the sea.

But wait! There’s more! We also have Marcello, the circus organ grinder who used to own the Octupus Twins as a sideshow freak. he has fleas that obey his command and inject a mind-controlling liquid that will allow one to make them to do their bidding if they play the organ grinder…

There’s also the mysterious underwater salvage dude who has lost his memory and is afraid to go the surface for unknown reasons…maybe…

in the end, One and Miette eventually find their way to the oil platform and all the answers are questioned…well, almost. Let’s just say there’s some plotting problems in the second act.

So what do we do with all these mix-matched elements? Nothing much really. Despite the multitude of possibilities and such, CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is so involved with its own backstories and little miniscule details that it becomes almost tedious to watch. Sequence take on an art gallery sort of method, that is to say, you might as well put the sound on mute and just let it play while you vacuum your rug or something.

But…I must admit, by doing that, you would deprive yourself of the rather memorable soundtrack, scored by Angelo Badalmenti. It is aggresively whimsical and somehow this works in favor of creating a foreboding and ultimately magical atmosphere that Jeunet and Caro seem unable to do visually. But still, the film has a wonderful testure to it that’s done on a big scale. And that’s one part I cannot praise enough: the scale and size of the production is dazzling. Sets are magnificent and gorgeous. The world of the lost children is convincing and eerily appealing, despite the dystopic elements.

The cinematography is also interesting. It looks as if it just might resemble a soft palleted, sepia toned, photograph, but tinted after many years. Then again, this is the modus operandi of Darius Khondji. The image quality displays a richness that is appealing and beautiful, perhaps one of the film’s greatest strenghts and maybe what even improves the ultimately sensationalistic set design.

Then again, the highly detailed art direction is deliriously insane. One moment we’re looking at a scene that might’ve emerged from the pages of Charles Dickens and then the next we’re in Dr. Frakenstein’s laboratory, complete with ray-gun gothic deco, steel doors and record players. There’s even a completely pointless pipe organ scene that seems to be just thrown in there for the heck of things. Actually, by the time we hit the climactic scene at the oil platform, the film sort of just descends into another territory altogether. Not only that, the film never concludes, it just sort of ends. Frustrating and dissapointing.

Ron Perlman as One is appealing, though in retrospect, I still am curious as to why he was involved in this production anyway. He’s like an occidental guest on a cruise-line full of freaks. Then again, his facial features are unusual, and this works well within this gothic fantasy world. That’s also a problem, but I don’t blame Perlman for that. For you see, everyone has funny facial features, but it doesn’t help when Jeunet aims the camera so close that you can see up their noses. The angle is also tilted sometimes, occasionally with a fish-eye lense to make it seem stranger. This works…sometimes. But mostly it’s irritating.

Judith Vittet as Miette is appealing….some of the time. it’s when she’s curious and ambiguous that your sympathies return. suddenly, she drops it and becomes a nasty street urchin again. Ick, go away….

Apparently, the role of Krank was written for Daniel Emilfork. This is funny, because he had worked with Fellini in CASANOVA, Fellini, who was known for working with people who had funny facial features. But Emilfork played an already foppish character in Casanova; a sexually ambiquous singer who dressed as a preying mantis on the stage and seemed to enjoy extolling intriguing humorous advice about man/woman relationships. He was also much more appealing in that role.

But still, Emilfork as Krank is perhaps one of the best roles in the film. He brings an interesting tenderness to what is otherwise thankless, villain role. In the end, you still feel bad for him, but Jeunet and Caro leave him with nothing else to do except create the character out of thin air. Also, Krank dressed as Santa Claus is hilarious. Which brings me to…

Domonique Pinon as the CLONES and the mysterious DIVER. He works best as the comical troupe clones. He plays all of them, thanks to well done special effects. Each one is buffonish and yet, kind at heart. Which makes them all the more out of place in the film. They are also bumbling idiots. They are dear to this viewer’s heart. Especially when one of them proclaims that they must paddle faster because the oil rig is following them…only to be told to untie the boat from the pillar.

Actually, Pinon probably steals the film. It doesn’t help that at the end, he’s one of the last people(s) you see. So he leaves the greatest impression, and you realize that you’ve stepped into a different movie. The Krank sequences have trouble reconciling themselves with the more mundane sections in the city.

You wonder if the movie would’ve been succesful if it had been done as straight science-fiction fantasy.

But then again, this brings me to another point…and one that I mull over frequently.

CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, I am aware, was adapted into a video game. An adventure one at that. Ironically, it was very skimpy on meat and story.

Which is ironic, because essentially, the film would’ve been beautiful had all the elements been transferred into the video game format. Sure, it would’ve been robbed of all credibility and pretention, but at least the its impact would be stronger.
Seriously, all the elements are there: a dark, mysterious city…a young girl orphan is working for a horrible petty villain, she meets the man of her dreams, even though she’s like, ten, a mad scientist is revealed to be the game’s improbably final villian, other obstacles come in their way, blah blah blah…seriously, someone should’ve torn out at least a dozen pages before taken to screen.

Then again, there’s the other alternative: would CITY OF LOST CHILDREN been more succesful if it had been a MUSCIAL? Really, take two improbably genres: science fiction gothic and bright musical…THAT would’ve been an artistically challenging and wonderful film.

imagine seeing Dominque Pinon dancing and singing with five other copies of himself, trying to put the mad doctor to sleep. And then there’d be the romantic song between dimwitted One and his love, Miette, though that would be totally creepy because he’s like twenty something and he’s like, ten. Ew. And the set-piece would be Irvin the brain singing an aria about how he’s a brain in a tank and he has migraine.

THAT….woul be awesome.

There have been other more succesful attempts at adult or dark fairy tales. THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is another film that tries to present a dream of dark and troubling things…with perhaps a bit too much humor injected into the mix.

Jeunet and Caro’s film is a visual effect and set design wonder. That being said, it is a rather disjointed and ridiculous tale about science gone wrong, orphans, conjoined twins who are using said orphans to commit theft (ala Fagin), clones who sing happy birthday to a brain in a tank, Ron Perlman speaking French (?), dreams, nightmares, industrial nightmares, men who have sought a religion that allows them to see with the aid of a strange cyclops-machine-device, mind-controlling circus fleas, a dreary city, and Santa Claus drinking liquor.

Sadly, the film is not as exciting or eclectic as that list of oddities promises. In practice, THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is a rather dull enterprise that fails to see the inherent magic in its magic-less series of events. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are rolling in their grave.

So much set creation and art direction, yet why do I feel I have been deprived of a profound cinematic experience?

let’s get to the story:

The film opens with a warm scene by the window, snow falling, a tol soldier clapping its cymbals. A boy sits in his pen, and then, Santa comes down the chimeney! Hooray! But then, another Santa drops down…and then another…and then another…until soon there’s a dozen Santas wandering around the room! It’s a nightmare! The boy starts to cry and become terrified. Soon, we realize that what we’re watching is a horrible dream gone awry; a bald mad scientist sits in a magnificent steam-punk chair. He screams in horror.

It turns out that this mad scientist, Krank, has been kidnapping children from the titular city. Why? Well, not yet…

Meanwhile, at the circus, Ron Perlman- I mean, strongman ONE, is doing his act. Afterwards, we see he is quite attached to his “little brother”, Denree, a little boy with a compulsive need to eat any food in sight.

But then, mysterious men with machine eyes come in and kidnap the boy!
One to the rescue!

Meanwhile, a pair of women known as the Octupus are running a theft ring using orphans, much like Fagin. They are conjoined at the feet, and seem to speak in tandem or complete each other statements. In any case, they behave almost as a single entity, scratching the other’s limb when they itch, or sharing taste and blowing smoke out the other mouth when one lights up. In any case, they’re generally unpleasant and quite mean.

We single out our heroine, Miette (which means Crumb) a cold little girl who is street smart and tough. She is one of the Octupus’ orphans. She runs into One by chance (which, for some reason, is Jeunet’s modus operandi when trying to move the plot foward. It gets more and more annoying as the film goes on.)

One hears that Miette knows where to find the cyclops, which One knows took Denree.

Somehow, Miette and One team up and go to the Cyclops….meanwhile, we see Krank and his “family”: a series of clones all played by dominique Pinon (the best performance(s) in the film), a midget woman, and Uncle Irvin, a talking brain in a fish tank who sees using a fish-eye lense and speaks through LP phones.

We find out from Irvin that they are all creations of one brilliant mad scientist, including Krank. And all turned out wrong. The little woman was to be his wife…but she turned out like a small person (she’s also allergic to steel). The clones all randomly got sleeping sickness (though this is almost never addressed in full…only partially…but still). Irvin is…well, a brain…who happens to get migraines. And Krank. His problem is that he lost the ability to dream. Because of this, he is prematurely old.

It is implied (until later, where it is actually shown) that Krank’s defect made him rage against his creator…

In any case, the Krank hopes to invade the drams of children in hopes that he may ease his suffering…but all keep having horrible nightmares. He hopes to find the perfect child, one with no nightmares and one that won’t get scared.

So we have the conjoined twins who are trying to find the missing Miette, evil cyclops henchmen, and a bunch of test-tube weirdos living on an oil platform in the middle of the sea.

But wait! There’s more! We also have Marcello, the circus organ grinder who used to own the Octupus Twins as a sideshow freak. he has fleas that obey his command and inject a mind-controlling liquid that will allow one to make them to do their bidding if they play the organ grinder…

There’s also the mysterious underwater salvage dude who has lost his memory and is afraid to go the surface for unknown reasons…maybe…

in the end, One and Miette eventually find their way to the oil platform and all the answers are questioned…well, almost. Let’s just say there’s some plotting problems in the second act.

So what do we do with all these mix-matched elements? Nothing much really. Despite the multitude of possibilities and such, CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is so involved with its own backstories and little miniscule details that it becomes almost tedious to watch. Sequence take on an art gallery sort of method, that is to say, you might as well put the sound on mute and just let it play while you vacuum your rug or something.

But…I must admit, by doing that, you would deprive yourself of the rather memorable soundtrack, scored by Angelo Badalmenti. It is aggresively whimsical and somehow this works in favor of creating a foreboding and ultimately magical atmosphere that Jeunet and Caro seem unable to do visually. But still, the film has a wonderful testure to it that’s done on a big scale. And that’s one part I cannot praise enough: the scale and size of the production is dazzling. Sets are magnificent and gorgeous. The world of the lost children is convincing and eerily appealing, despite the dystopic elements.

The cinematography is also interesting. It looks as if it just might resemble a soft palleted, sepia toned, photograph, but tinted after many years. Then again, this is the modus operandi of Darius Khondji. The image quality displays a richness that is appealing and beautiful, perhaps one of the film’s greatest strenghts and maybe what even improves the ultimately sensationalistic set design.

Then again, the highly detailed art direction is deliriously insane. One moment we’re looking at a scene that might’ve emerged from the pages of Charles Dickens and then the next we’re in Dr. Frakenstein’s laboratory, complete with ray-gun gothic deco, steel doors and record players. There’s even a completely pointless pipe organ scene that seems to be just thrown in there for the heck of things. Actually, by the time we hit the climactic scene at the oil platform, the film sort of just descends into another territory altogether. Not only that, the film never concludes, it just sort of ends. Frustrating and dissapointing.

Ron Perlman as One is appealing, though in retrospect, I still am curious as to why he was involved in this production anyway. He’s like an occidental guest on a cruise-line full of freaks. Then again, his facial features are unusual, and this works well within this gothic fantasy world. That’s also a problem, but I don’t blame Perlman for that. For you see, everyone has funny facial features, but it doesn’t help when Jeunet aims the camera so close that you can see up their noses. The angle is also tilted sometimes, occasionally with a fish-eye lense to make it seem stranger. This works…sometimes. But mostly it’s irritating.

Judith Vittet as Miette is appealing….some of the time. it’s when she’s curious and ambiguous that your sympathies return. suddenly, she drops it and becomes a nasty street urchin again. Ick, go away….

Apparently, the role of Krank was written for Daniel Emilfork. This is funny, because he had worked with Fellini in CASANOVA, Fellini, who was known for working with people who had funny facial features. But Emilfork played an already foppish character in Casanova; a sexually ambiquous singer who dressed as a preying mantis on the stage and seemed to enjoy extolling intriguing humorous advice about man/woman relationships. He was also much more appealing in that role.

But still, Emilfork as Krank is perhaps one of the best roles in the film. He brings an interesting tenderness to what is otherwise thankless, villain role. In the end, you still feel bad for him, but Jeunet and Caro leave him with nothing else to do except create the character out of thin air. Also, Krank dressed as Santa Claus is hilarious. Which brings me to…

Domonique Pinon as the CLONES and the mysterious DIVER. He works best as the comical troupe clones. He plays all of them, thanks to well done special effects. Each one is buffonish and yet, kind at heart. Which makes them all the more out of place in the film. They are also bumbling idiots. They are dear to this viewer’s heart. Especially when one of them proclaims that they must paddle faster because the oil rig is following them…only to be told to untie the boat from the pillar.

Actually, Pinon probably steals the film. It doesn’t help that at the end, he’s one of the last people(s) you see. So he leaves the greatest impression, and you realize that you’ve stepped into a different movie. The Krank sequences have trouble reconciling themselves with the more mundane sections in the city.

You wonder if the movie would’ve been succesful if it had been done as straight science-fiction fantasy.

But then again, this brings me to another point…and one that I mull over frequently.

CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, I am aware, was adapted into a video game. An adventure one at that. Ironically, it was very skimpy on meat and story.

Which is ironic, because essentially, the film would’ve been beautiful had all the elements been transferred into the video game format. Sure, it would’ve been robbed of all credibility and pretention, but at least the its impact would be stronger.
Seriously, all the elements are there: a dark, mysterious city…a young girl orphan is working for a horrible petty villain, she meets the man of her dreams, even though she’s like, ten, a mad scientist is revealed to be the game’s improbably final villian, other obstacles come in their way, blah blah blah…seriously, someone should’ve torn out at least a dozen pages before taken to screen.

Then again, there’s the other alternative: would CITY OF LOST CHILDREN been more succesful if it had been a MUSCIAL? Really, take two improbably genres: science fiction gothic and bright musical…THAT would’ve been an artistically challenging and wonderful film.

imagine seeing Dominque Pinon dancing and singing with five other copies of himself, trying to put the mad doctor to sleep. And then there’d be the romantic song between dimwitted One and his love, Miette, though that would be totally creepy because he’s like twenty something and he’s like, ten. Ew. And the set-piece would be Irvin the brain singing an aria about how he’s a brain in a tank and he has migraine.

THAT….woul be awesome.