The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2017 - The City of Lost Children (1995), directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet

The Trailer
and
The Appropriate Tune: "Who Will Take My Dreams Away", by Angelo Badalamenti and Marianne Faithfull

     Last year around this same time, the Marathon dipped into the Franc bank to give you two films from the magical land of France: animated bird boob movie Gandahar and one third of the Poe tribute Spirits of the Dead. Pretty okay films all things considered, but the most important thing they did was to get me interested in covering more French films, as long as they were in the appropriates genres. I’d already seen the horror classic Eyes Without A Face, so that was out. La Jetee was also a possibility, having been the inspiration for the amazing 12 Monkeys, but that was another one I’d seen before (plus it’s only 28 minutes long). The work of Luc Besson was probably the strongest contender for the majority of the time, with Nikita, Leon the Professional and The Fifth Element all being on my watch queue at some point or another, however the poor reception to Valerian ended up souring my mood on Besson. Maybe next year.

     Which leads us to The City of Lost Children, directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunut. OG Hellboy Ron Perlman stars as One, a simple-minded yet strong-hearted carnival strongman living in an incredibly 19th century French port city. Live is shit, as you’d expect in a time before labor laws, but it is tolerable as long as he has his ‘little brother’ Denree by his side. Of course Denree is almost immediately kidnapped by bizarre thugs with steampunk technology strapped to their faces, an issue faced by French port cities to this very day. Completely lost as to how to begin his search, One is suddenly joined by Miette, a young street smart orphan girl forced into a life of crime. Together, the odd due go off on a fantastical adventure to rescue Denree, a journey of steampunk cults, evil circus performers, a gaggle of clones and a mad scientist and his devilish dream machine. Not to mention lots and lots of Santa Claus cosplay.

     It makes more sense in context.

     According to the general info, City of Lost Children, along with Delicatessen (which I actually saw years ago) and Amelie (which I constantly see around but never watch) was intended by Caro & Jeunet as a tribute to the works of Thunderbird favorite Terry Gilliam. If you’ve ever seen one of Gilliam’s film, in particular Time Bandits or Brazil, then the comparisons start to flow. Grungy yet colorful and almost expressionistic settings contrasted with fairy tale stylings and magic realism with copious amounts of black and visual humor, occasionally with a Monty Python actor thrown in somewhere. That’s Gilliam, and that’s what Caro & Jeunet manage to accomplish damn well here. The comedy kinda falls flat on occasion, which I’ll chalk up to cultural differences, but it nails that sense of dark fantasy that few directors are able to perfect. Gilliam, Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, and now Caro and Jeunet.

     More than anything else though, what really sells the movie is the friendship between One and Miette (played by Judith Villett). The gentle giant and child isn’t a new concept in storytelling (bringing it back to fairy tales), but the two have such a great chemistry that you don’t really mind. Villett as the stoic, wiseass but ultimately vulnerable girl, Perlman saying everything with just an expression, it’s endearing to see them bond over the course of the movie. Way more than any scene with Denree, if we’re being honest. Kid’s a MacGuffin with an eating disorder.

     By the way, the music here is done by Angelo Badalamenti, who you might know from all your favorite David Lynch movies. I actually didn’t know this going into the movie and it ended up being a real treat.

     The hour and 52 minute runtime does drag a bit unfortunately, but overall The City of Lost Children was a lot sillier and lot more enjoyable than I was expecting. More than little bit disturbed, plenty depressing, but at its heart it’s simple moral: If you give love, then you’ll receive love, and no matter how hopeless things seem, love always wins. You don’t often find movies on Halloween that have a happy ending, but this is one that I can heartily recommend. You might even want to throw this on and watch with the kids if the repeats of Nightmare Before Christmas and Monster House has gotten a bit stale. Just remember: Cultural. Differences.