A rotten old man by the name of Krank (Daniel Emilfork) can no longer dream. In attempt to evade death he steals the dreams of children. Krank also has a group of clones to do the majority of the dirty work. The henchmen clones (Dominique Pinon) abduct 5-year-old Denree (Joseph Lucien) to subject him to the dark and demented dream-retrieval process. The boy's father, One (Ron Perlman), a strongman with a traveling circus and his new 9-year-old friend, Miette (Judith Vittet) start an alliance to defeat Krank's disciples and save Denree.
It's been a while since I've been so engulfed by an environment of a film. If you couple the set design with Umbrella Entertainment's elite remastering you have arguably some of the most original set designs you'll ever lay your eyes on. I would think if cinematographer Darius Khondji has had the opportunity to see this release, he's got to be even more pleased with the steam-punkish, Mad-Max-ish, Dark City-ish colors that he has presented to us. Absolutely astounding. And a second round of applause to the entire art department. Between Khondji and the art department, the environment is unforgettable. The casting director, Pierre-Jacques Benichou also deserves some notoriety. The cast he put together oozes weird. And it works across all fronts. Which I feel is a rarity these days.
Directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet had a downright bizarre vision. It flows through the senses like cinematic poetry. Hardly something that you see often.
Umbrella Entertainment's release of the 1995 cult classic comes with the original 5.1 French audio track, audio commentary with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, making of featurette, behind the scenes featurette, an interview with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and three teaser trailers. So, do yourself a favor and head over to Umbrella Entertainment's website and get yourself a copy. You will not be disappointed.
