Michel Gondry’s last film, the unwatchably hyperglycaemic Mood Indigo (2013), was so arch and quirky it irritated more than appealed. Thankfully, Microbe and Gasoline resets the dial to the charm levels of 2008’s Be Kind Rewind. And things hadn’t been plain sailing before that too. The stilted, US-made The We and the I (2012) suggested that, after The Green Hornet, Gondry was a fish-out-of-water in America. Microbe and Gasoline is low-key, sweet, warm and made in France.
Microbe and Gasoline (Microbe et Gasoil) is straightforward and feels autobiographical. It tells the story of the friendship between schoolboys Daniel (Ange Dargent) and Théo (Théophile Baquet). Daniel is known as Microbe due to his lack of size and is concerned that he isn’t manly enough, while Théo is Gasoil. He is usually oily as he is often mucking about with engines. Each is a misfit and has problems at home with their parents (Microbe’s mother is played by Audrey Tautou). They are drawn to each other and decide to set off on a road trip in a self-built motorised house to avoid spending the summer holiday with their families.
Both leads are newcomers to cinema and the chemistry between them is natural. Through their adventures, some thrills and spills, the odd bump in the road and the odd bump in their relationship, they bloom and mature in each other’s company. Though a fantasy riff on hermetic childhood friendship akin to the Seventies TV show Here Come the Double Deckers and a road movie, Microbe and Gasoline is also a natural buddy movie counterpart to Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.
The only extra on the home cinema release is a 12-minute making-of which is inessential. There is no need to know how Microbe and Gasoline was made. Seeing this enchanting film is enough.
Overleaf: Watch the trailer for Microbe and Gasoline
Watch the trailer for Microbe and Gasoline
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