Screens: Bigbug is a fun over-the-top French farce.

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Sunday 3/27

classes

Paint & Sip. Learn to paint some happy little clouds. $35, 2pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwoodfarm andwinery.com

outside

JackFest. A family-friendly festival that raises money to help families battling childhood cancer get cutting-edge care. Free, noon. Foxfield, 2215 Foxfield Track. jackfest.net

etc.

Hollywood’s Biggest Night: Oscars watch

event. Watch the Oscars in style inside an intimate auditorium. $1, 8pm. Violet Crown Cinema, 200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. violetcrown.com La Bamba. The biographical film chronicles the life of Ritchie Valens. $10, 6pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. draft house.com Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Presented in Japanese with English subtitles. $10, noon. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com

Paramount Presents: Anything Goes–The

Musical in HD. Filmed live at the Barbican in London, this major new five-star production of the classic musical comedy features an all-star cast led by renowned Broadway royalty Sutton Foster. $11-15, 2pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net

Monday 3/28

music

Baby Jo’s. Tunes from the seven-piece New Orleans-inspired boogie and blues band. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskey jarcville.com Monday Music Series. Enjoy food and drink paired with live Latin music from Vincent Zorn, Berto & Vincent, or Beleza. Free, 7pm. South and Central Latin Grill, Dairy Market. southandcentralgrill.com

Welcome to Night Vale Live: The Haunting

of Night Vale. A standalone story featuring original music and theater. $32, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St. jefferson theater.com

etc.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

Part 1. See listing for Saturday, March 26. $10, 7pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com Monday Night Trivia. Hosted by Brandon “The Trivia Guy” Hamilton. Free, 6pm. Prince Michel Vineyard & Tap 29 Brewery, 154 Winery Ln., Leon. princemichel.com

Tuesday 3/29

music

Madeline Holly Sales. An evening of bossa samba soul. Free, 7pm. South and Central Latin Grill, Dairy Market. southand centralgrill.com

Tuesday Evening Concert Series: Arod

Quartet. A program featuring Mozart, Bartók, and Ravel. $5-39, 7:30pm. Old Cabell Hall, UVA Grounds. tecs.org

Robotic delivery

Bigbug finds humor in technological doom

NETFLIX

Funny and foreboding, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Bigbug details the perils of artificial intelligence.

By Justin Humphreys

arts@c-ville.com

If Terry Gilliam remade “The Jetsons,” it might go something like Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Bigbug. This French science-fiction comedy takes a generally dark movie sub-genre—robot servants revolting against their human masters—and transforms it into an outwardly sunny, pastel-colored farce. The results are a hilarious, fascinating satire that’s seemingly light, but overflows with pointed observations about unchecked technological evolution at its worst.

Set in near-future France, suburban divorcée Alice (Elsa Zylberstein), her date (Stéphane De Groot), ex-husband (Youssef Hajdi), his secretary (Claire Chust), and others are sealed inside her house as malfunctioning security androids launch an insurrection outside. Meanwhile, her robotic servants faithfully try to protect their owner. (No giant insects here—the titular “bug” has infected the computer systems that manage the characters’ lives.)

Bigbug echoes—and affectionately parodies—Blade Runner, Westworld, Demon Seed, and other excellent works about artificial intelligence in revolt. Like those films, it confronts a major modern conundrum: Where does A.I. end and sentience begin? How much human-like behavior makes a robot human?

As Jeunet takes his viewers on a windy trip through the “uncanny valley” between mechanical and flesh-and-blood life, he keeps Bigbug compelling by raising dozens of intriguing questions, and offering few pat answers. But the film’s opening image— leashed human beings led on all-fours by androids—sets the tone: Our own labor-saving technology ultimately enslaves us.

Bigbug’s reviews have been mixed because it’s definitely not for everyone, especially anyone who only knows Jeunet’s breakout hit Amelie. Bigbug is more akin to Delicatessen and other off-kilter early collaborations with Marc Caro. Be warned: Some viewers will find Bigbug overly frenetic and unconventional. But for those who stick with it, it’s a rewarding and hysterical film. (Be sure to watch the French-language version—the dubbed one sounds awful.)

The point that some viewers miss is that Bigbug’s background is its foreground. The humans’ antic interactions are funny, but what’s most intriguing is Jeunet’s intricate world-building. With most of this claustrophobic story occurring inside a single house, its vision of future life unfolds through background details within this ecosystem. Alice, for instance, keeps her journal with pen and ink, which have become as obsolete as IBM punch cards.

The cast is strong, particularly Claude Perron as the robotic maid Monique and Zylberstein in the lead. The voice acting is equally good, with André Dussollier standing out as the sanguine Einstein. Keep an eye out for cameos by Jeunet movie vets like Dominique Pinon, too.

Aline Bonetto’s retro-futuristic production design is marvelous, equal parts Bauhaus and mid-century modern by way of Betty Crocker. Outstanding credit is also due to special

Bigbug

R, 111 minutes Streaming (Netflix)

effects supervisor Pascal Molina, robot designer Jean-Christophe Spadaccini, and visual effects directors Alain Carsoux and Jeremie Leroux for their excellent work on the nonCGI mechanical co-stars. Most notable among the robotic cast is Einstein, a scuttling, sixlegged head that looks like a caricature of its namesake crafted from typewriter parts.

Bigbug isn’t a masterpiece, nor is it as good as some of Jeunet’s more recent underseen gems like Micmacs. At an hour and 51 minutes, it’s 10 minutes too long. But it’s very funny, highly imaginative and intelligent, and the kind of science fiction movie that matters most: one about ideas.