Made in Caro (2006)

Directed by: Mark Caro | 100 minutes | music, animation, erotica, fantasy, science fiction | Actors: Régine Chopinot, Coralie Fovea, Swanny

Before creating the original visual masterpieces ‘Delicatessen’ and ‘City of Lost Children’ together with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro had already had a lot of finger exercises with a range of short films. All these experiments and (sometimes) pieces of art can be admired on the DVD ‘Made in Caro’. It is a fascinating collection which, just like the feature films by this artist, because that is what the director may be called, elicit different reactions from the viewer. And just like the full-length films, not every moment is equally successful or accessible, but the majority of the twenty short films are very fascinating. Stimulating, funny, hypnotic, and almost always original: Caro’s films are exciting food for the cinephile.

It is a colorful collection that is presented here on DVD, but there are some similarities between many films. Most of the films have a prominent soundtrack to begin with, which makes several films seem like a music video. And sometimes they are simply video clips. Clips, for example, with a high trance/dance content. Intense beats that, combined with literal flashy animations, provide a psychedelic experience. Rotating molecular-like shapes in ‘Les Cyclopodes’, for example, or fast-moving images of brains and skull sections in ‘Lsdead’. The industrially designed ‘diorama’ ‘Savoure Le Rouge’, designed in rust colours, with a camera that always moves backwards and thus shows new bodies – a kind of mannequins – or other visual elements, has an interesting appearance that is strongly reminiscent of Jeunet and Caro’s ‘Delicatessen’. The singing and morphing faces that appear on the screen are also slightly reminiscent of Peter Gabriel’s classic video clip ‘Sledgehammer’.

There are also slightly or strongly erotic video clips in the collection, for example with a scantily clad dancer in a dance clip, which is suffused with a kind of silver-grey sheen. And then there are several naked ladies, also appearing in a silver-gray video clip, who rhythmically (and explicitly zoomed in) move up and down or suck on mechanical dildos, these images being played back and forth.

The film collection contains many nice finds such as a kind of robot head made up of various technological discoveries – for example, it has a typewriter for a mouth, gramophone players for ears, and video cameras for eyes – and seems to find itself in the midst of even more and greater historical developments , which take place around him (airplanes, wars, the landing of the month, the ubiquitous presence of cars, possession of weapons).

The boxing match set to pumping beats between a semi-flat, elastic version of regular Caro/Jeunet actor Dominique Pinon and some colossus is also funny and originally animated. But there are also films that are simply uninteresting – such as ‘Samàdhi’, which shows a pulsating bubble for five minutes – or are too “artificial” or obscure to hold attention, despite the short time they usually take. Take in custody.

As a whole ‘Made in Caro’ is an interesting, versatile collection. This collection is a must for the fan or enthusiast of the work of this filmmaker. The originality and creativity often shine through, and it will probably pay off to watch the films several times. ‘Made in Caro’ is like a until recently unopened treasure chest, which may contain some dull coins, but in which various gems can also be found.