“Please note the efficiency of our services.”

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French auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s return to feature film making after a decade, Bigbug bears the bold colours and characterful mise-en-scène that one expects from his work but his vision here feels constrained and superficial. Playing on fears of an AI uprising that now feel somewhat dated (compared to the real impact of recent AI developments), the sci-fi Bigbug features an ensemble cast trapped inside a house, and we see little of the world beyond. The meticulous practical effects of Jeunet’s earlier work are largely shunted to post-production effects. The actors are the film’s biggest strength, all throwing themselves gamely into the farce, with particular credit to François Levantal’s gleefully scenery-chewing performance as the Yonyx robots. In truth, Bigbug has more to say about consumerism and complacency than AI. There are chuckles to be had at the messy human entanglements but Bigbug is disappointingly shallow for a topic which could have been so relevant.

5/10