You know, I don’t think I would have been able to watch this movie – this silent, black and white movie – if not for the fact that the theatre I was watching it in was showing it in digital. Nothing authenticates the black and white experience quite like crystal clear digital projection. Now if only they could have shot it in 3D...
Yes, it’s another Oscar pick this week and, despite my sarcastic opener, I did like it. The Artist is something of a feel good story even before you enter the theatre. The sheer will it must have taken to get a silent film made in this day and age could probably make a good movie onto itself. And yet somehow it doesn’t surprise me that The Artist’s whirlwind ride has ended with it being nominated for Best Picture.If you’re going to shell out the cash for a movie that 90% of the viewing public will dismiss without even thinking, you’ve got to have some belief that it’s a story worth telling. And let’s be honest, the concept screams Oscar bait.
The Artist revolves around George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a silent film actor in the height of the 1920s. Crowds can’t get enough of him, the press adore him, and every movie he makes is a hit. After yet another successful premiere he has a chance encounter with a young aspiring actress named Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), and because of his fondness towards her, takes her under his wing and mentors her into stardom. Unfortunately, as any tenth grade history text book would tell us, the “talkies” and a pretty severe stock market crash are just over the horizon, and George finds himself a relic in a new age of filmmaking.
The story is somewhat like the black and white version of a romantic comedy, but there’s a lot of charm to this movie that’s hard to define. The acting is superb, evident by Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Dujardin and Bejo (who you might remember from A Knight’s Tale, possibly the best movie about medieval jousting ever set to the music of Queen). And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Uggie, one of the best canine actors I’ve seen since Eddie on Frasier (Eddie was actually played by two dogs, but damn it if they both weren’t fantastic).
It’s funny, but it’s far from a pure comedy. Dramatic, yet never so dark as to lose that 1920s feel. There’s just something, ironically enough, fresh about watching a period movie in the style of a film from that period. The great visual metaphors so indicative of the genre seem to capture the nostalgia perfectly and adds tremendous amount of depth to the film’s otherwise inaudible characters. And little details – like how the film is just a tiny bit sped up to mimic the hand cranked style of the originals – further enhance the trip down memory lane (or you know, 60 years before you were born lane).
But I do have to give fair warning – while I liked The Artist, liked what it was trying to do, I wouldn’t want to see it again anytime soon. It can be a slog to get through. I’m very happy I saw it, but its silent aspect, while charming, definitely wears on you. If you don’t think you can handle 100 minutes without dialogue I doubt this movie will convince you otherwise. But if you’re open to something different, or you just want to be the only informed member of your Oscar pool, I’d suggest going to see it. Who knows, a break from the talkies might do you some good.
3.5/5
