5 Stars Documentaries (010)
Microcosmos (1996)
Produced by: BAC Films
Its subject, at first glance, is one of the ickiest imaginable: bugs. But Microcosmos does more than dryly chronicle, say, the lifespan of the carpenter ant.
Its opening narration (the only words we hear until the ending) invites us into a French meadow, and the filmmakers then employ jaw-dropping visuals to silently convey not just the activities of the many insects they study, but also the dizzyingly foreign world in which they live. Here raindrops fall like missile strikes, predator insects (and in one unforgettable sequence a pheasant) tower overhead like Mothra over Japan, and the whole blue sky opens up above just three or four inches above the ground. This meadow is a labyrinth at ground level, packed with as much activity as any city, and varied beyond belief in its population. Smart editing and heightened sound complete the otherworldly feel of this parallel reality teeming below the human knee.
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* From “Microcosmos”, a film review by Jake Euker, on Filmcritic.com
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