BIGBUG

Pinpointing where exactly Bigbug goes wrong would take ages, as this futuristic would-be satire is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.

After nearly a full decade without helming a feature movie quintessentially French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet returns with the Netflix feature Bigbug. Unfortunately, that isn't the great news you'd expect it to be, as the visual and narrative invention you associate with the helmer of such gems as Delicatessen and Amélie is shockingly missing in action in his latest film.

Pinpointing where exactly Bigbug goes wrong is moot, as the futuristic would-be satire of today's e-device obsessed society misses the mark at just about every attempt at humour. Jeunet has never been a particularly subtle filmmaker, but the numbingly broad humour he takes a stab at here makes you cringe from the very first scene, which is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, and continues all the way through, not helped by ADD acting across the board.

Though I more or less see what Bigbug was aiming for, there is no denying that both the message of the film and its CGI-heavy (lack of) style seem downright retro, not prescient. Or to explain in the kind of pun the execrable film might have contained itself: Bigbug severely bugged me.

release: 2022

director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

starring: Isabelle Nanty, Elsa Zylberstein, Claude Perron, Stéphane De Groodt