TheRetroCritic

Taking another break from Hollywood filmmaking, director Michel Gondry follows Mood Indigo with Microbe Et Gasoil (Microbe & Gasoline), a coming-of-age story about two young boys building a makeshift car of sorts and travelling around France. Newcomers Ange Dargent and Théophile Baquet play the titular leads and the playful friendship their characters form is both real and touching. You're never quite sure where the film is going and, while it could have easily developed into a love story, it instead reveals itself to simply be a film about rebellion and growing-up. Gondry takes a step back this time and doesn't add in his own brand of surreal storytelling and practical effects. The only unusual part of the film being the house/car the teenagers drive throughout. Microbe Et Gasoil taps into a specific feeling most of us can probably relate to, that is the reluctance to be different, to grow-up and the dream of one day just setting off on an adventure with no plans of