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Luring us once again through the
funhouse looking glass and into a handcrafted phantasmagoria,
cinemagician Michel Gondry commences the carnivalesque proceedings of Mood Indigo
in a retro-futuristic sweatshop. Seated at conveyer belts of
typewriters, workers diligently clack away to assemble the love story of
Colin (Romain Duris), a carefree Parisian, and Chloé (Audrey Tautou),
the object of his chaste desire. Gondry—director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep—makes
their romance considerably more vibrant than the monochromatic pages
being soullessly churned out. But the film still feels piecemeal, as if
Gondry assumes countless fantastical flourishes will coalesce into an
affecting narrative. He dizzies the senses with hyperimaginative
details: a piano that pours cocktails determined by the notes being
played; a dance craze that requires participants to distort their
anatomy and grow elongated puppet appendages. Yet these flights of fancy
carpet-bomb the film, leaving nearly fatal levels of whimsy in their
wake. Not only does Gondry's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach
(including a rogue eel in the kitchen sink) desensitize us to spectacle,
it leaves us unreceptive to a tragic third act. Perhaps we'd be moved
to shed a tear if we hadn't already cried "oncle" an hour earlier. [Critic's Grade: C]
SEE IT: Mood Indigo opens Friday at Living Room Theaters, Hollywood Theatre.
WWeek 2015