SFFILM

The Bay Area's home for the world's finest films and filmmakers.

SFFILM Festival

Microbe and Gasoline

Directed by Michel Gondry

France | 105

26 Apr
Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 5:30 pm PT
Alamo Drafthouse

Description

Buckle up for a whimsical road trip with Microbe and Gasoline, two boys equipped with wild imaginations and insightful observations in visionary writer/director Michel Gondry’s gentle and amusing tale of teenagers who build a tiny motorized house on wheels and drive across France in search of adventure and pretty girls. It is a fitting story for a director who maintains a DIY approach to practical effects in visually inventive work, from his music videos to such films as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and The Science of Sleep (2006). Here, the titular misfits are Daniel (Ange Dargent), a hopeless romantic artist nicknamed “Microbe” for his puny size, and Theo (Theophile Baquet), a Fonzie-type greaser and the new kid in school. The two escape from their respective dysfunctional families and bullying peers with a grand adventure. Out on the road, the boys grow in maturity, facing run-ins with locals and striving to avoid any roadblocks in their path. Not quite a coming-of-age comedy, Microbe and Gasoline delightfully tiptoes the line between reality and fantasy as Gondry utilizes the playful yet socially constrained nature of youth to craft a touching tale of friendship while delivering subtle commentary on universal themes of identity, self-confidence and love. —Chad Liffmann

Director Michel Gondry

Rising to fame through directing music videos for Daft Punk, Björk, Chemical Brothers and others, Michel Gondry broke into feature-film directing with Human Nature (2001) and a few years later shared a Best Original Screenplay Oscar® with Charlie Kaufman for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Gondry’s signature visual style—emphasizing illusion-filled camera tricks and practical effects—continues to define his work, including such films as The Science of Sleep (2006), Be Kind Rewind (2008), Mood Indigo (2013) and Microbe and Gasoline (2015).

Trailer

//player.vimeo.com/video/160929687?autoplay=1

Film Details

LanguageFrench

Year2015

Runtime105

CountryFrance

DirectorMichel Gondry

ProducerGeorges Bermann

WriterMichel Gondry

EditorElise Fievet

CinematographerLaurent Brunet

MusicJean-Claude Vannier

CastAnge Dargent, Theophile Baquet, Diane Besnier, Audrey Tautou