The City of Lost Children (1995)

The City of Lost Children is another film from directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen) and it doesn’t disappoint. Set in a fictional city where there are many orphans, a strange group of Cyclops patrolling the streets stealing children, and a towering oil rig-like factory surrounded by mines a few miles off shore. In the factory, a group of creations live without their master in fear of the new ruler, Krank (Daniel Emilfork). Krank is an old bald misanthrope who was created without the ability to dream. As a result of this defect, his body ages faster and he lives in misery. So he has his fellow creations (a group of child-like clones, all played by Dominique Pinon) go out and deal with the group of Cyclops in order to bring in children so that he may hook them up to an elaborate machine and steal their dreams in order to slow down his own aging process as well as give him peace of mind. The only one who seems to realize how wrong all this is is the disembodied brain who lives in a tank and is connected to speakers and a camera (voiced by Jean-Louis Trintignant). While this is the set up for the villains, the film also follows One (Ron Pearlman), a kind and simple strong man who performs feats of strength at the carnival, who is trying to save his little brother, one of the recent victims of kidnapping. In the process, he runs into Miette (Judith Vittet) who is a member of a group of orphan thieves working for a sadistic pair of conjoined twins (Odile Mallet and Geneviève Brunet).

Clearly there is a lot going on in this film and the first half hour or so suffers a little for it. Many characters are introduced early on (I haven’t come close to mentioning all of them) and most of them are visually fascinating and so different that it requires a period of adjustment in order to get used to the visuals. The film provides no introduction or prologue introducing the audience to the city. Instead, the viewers are simply dropped into a world that is entirely its own. This rapid introduction may cause some viewers to feel a bit lost at first, but after that introduction period is over, and this seems to coincide with the main plot taking off, it becomes much easier to follow along. As with Delicatessen, Caro and Jeunet prove their care and dedication to the visuals and style. There is no other set quite like the one used in this film. There are many high angle shots used in order to show off the length of a street or the depth of an alley. Every street is freshly wet as if it just rained, smoke rises from the sewers, buildings are cracked and ugly, and every street is littered with minuscule details in order to convince the audience that this place is real. The main story focuses on One and Miette teaming up to find the lost children and their relationship feels so genuine – thanks to the top notch acting from Pearlman and Vittet – that not only does the film become easier to follow, but it becomes a story that is easy to care about. This is another great film by Caro and Jeunet that is even better the second and third time around.