The_Film_Cricket The word 'insect' in the minds of most people brings about images of destructive, disease-carrying 'bugs', flies, maggots, cockroaches. But if Microcomos does anything, it reminds me that there are hundreds of thousands of constructive insects that are simply beautiful.The directors of this film spent a number of years using microscopic cameras to capture breathtaking images of hundreds of insects in their natural habitat (in this case, a meadow in France). They select just the right music for a scene in which a pheasant who attacks and ant colony. Two snails seem locked in some time of embrace, a ladybug tries to take off but has a little trouble getting off the ground.'Microcosmos' fits the category of a documentary. But depending on how you take the behavior of these amazing creatures its a love story (two snails who seem deeply in love), a war movie (two beetles lock in moral struggle), a child-birth film (several insects giving birth), a disaster movie (a rainstorm in which the drops seem like a meteor storm) and a monster movie (a pheasant that attacks an ant colony). I sometimes felt like and interloper peering down into their lives in their most intimate moments.I saw a movie a few years back called 'The Scent of Green Papaya' which contained a scene of a curious little girl squatted down on the ground smiling as she watched a colony of ants at work. I wondered about that and when I saw 'Microcosmos' I felt that I had a ringside seat at what had captivated her.

TxMike I saw the English version, as a streaming Netflix video in Hi-Def. It is narrated by Kristin Scott Thomas, but really there are only a few sentences at the beginning, and even less at the end. The vast middle of the movie has no narration, only appropriate music as we are left to observe the miniature world. The picture is superb, as it has to be.There is no plot to the "story", and it doesn't attempt to encompass all of the miniature world of insects. It simply gives us, the viewers, a series of brief glimpses into their everyday world.We see ants busily moving a variety of grain into their tunnels. In a different clip we see a colorful bird, perhaps a Pheasant, busily pecking and eating ants who have no clue as to "protection".We see a spider and its web, and how it uses the web to wrap up a small grasshopper that happens to jump into captivity.We see a mighty struggle, a battle, between two large beetles. And in another clip, a Dung Beetle working mightily to successfully roll its ball of dung to its burrow.Plus many, many more small critters.The image saved for last is an impressive one, we see what looks like a giant sea monster rising slowly out of the water, and when it is over we realize it is a mosquito emerging from its larval state and then flying away.A wonderful viewing experience for anyone who is at all fascinated by the miniature world around us.

dmills9 Thoroughly enjoyable film, although I did at least in the beginning want more explanation. I wanted to know what that particular spider (or other creature) was called. I wanted to hear things like "Lucky catch. Sometimes a spider will sit for days without a meal." (I don't really know if that's the case.) Little bits of information like that would have been welcome.But then I became absorbed and realized that it was enough just to observe and learn what was available visually. The use of music to tell the story was not perfect, but good enough. I apparently do not enjoy snail mating as much as the film-makers though, because they chose absolutely beautiful music and it went on entirely too long. Strange.Nevertheless, I did enjoy this one and I would watch it again. It turns out that when you know more about them and can see their beauty this tiny creatures don't seem so creepy any more.

imdb-5596 I'm all for innovation and creativity. Quite happy with weird films. But this is just a film of bugs coming and going, going about their normal daily business. Yes, of course they're nicely photographed, and the flowers they visit have lovely bright colours. But it's not really a film, is it?I tried with Microcosmos. At first, I though I was waiting for the dialogue to kick in. But no. And then, I thought the beetle activity would form into a plot - maybe it does, but I simply couldn't get it. I think it was this belief - that it would somehow form itself into a story - that kept me from walking out. But when it finally ended I was none the wiser, and wished I hadn't bothered.