Country: France / Canada
Movie Review: Based on Reif Larsen’s novel “The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet”, the new film from the acclaimed French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a family-adventure film focused on a bright 10-year-old kid named Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, who flees from his parents’ ranch in Montana to enter triumphantly in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, in order to receive the award of scientific excellence. Son of a cowboy and a peculiar scientist, T.S. will travel alone and in secret across the US, narrating his adventurous journey (almost totally spent onboard of a freight train) which will serve not only to recognize him as a little genius but also make him closer to his family and finally put aside the trauma he’s suffering since childhood due to an accident that victimized his younger brother. The pic doesn’t have the aura of “Amelie” or the vibrancy of “Delicatessen”, but is definitely more attractive in concept than Jeunet’s last film “Micmacs” whose humor didn’t please me. Visually, the film gives continuity to the rigor of color treatment and image composition evinced in previous works, with cinematographer Thomas Hardmeier being awarded with a French César. Some situations created in the final moments touched the pathetic, especially when T.S. is retrieved by his parents during a TV interview, but Jeunet still achieves some sustainability through the dramatic side of the story, providing the minimum amusement required to entertain all family.
