Winner of the 2011 Oscar for Best Picture, another thing he did when Gnoudesavanes swung by last month was tell me he wasn't particularly impressed with the film. I believe he said something about Jean Dujardin not being that great an actor and not caring about the fact they dance. Well, having watched it now with a number of co-workers, we would collectively like to tell him that The Artist was a highly enjoyable movie!
Starting in 1929, George Valentin (Dujardin) is a silent movie star at the top of his game - with his trusty dog (Uggie), he is capable of doing action, dramatic, romantic, and comic roles! At the opening of his latest movie, A Russian Affair, aspiring actress Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is accidentally pushed into the circle where Valentin is being photographed by the press, thus getting herself into the next morning's papers. Furious with her stealing the limelight from their movie, the Kinescope studio boss (John Goodman) attempts to fire her, until Valentin intervenes, saving her career and we see Peppy's star rising. With the arrival of talkie pictures, the boss decides the studio will concentrate solely on talking movies, which Valentin dismisses as a fad and decides to invest his fortune in a silent film that he will write, direct, and act in himself...
What can I say? While I have read criticisms saying that The Artist is a gimmick run over 90 minutes - because it is a silent movie retelling the reversal of fortune of a silent movie star - I found the movie itself highly entertaining and the use of intertitles unobtrusive because everything that was happening could be told from the events on screen. If anything, this film showed that a coherent plot and comprehensible acting/body language, a complete story can be told!
Maybe it is necessary to know a little bit about the history of cinema and how while number of actors were able to make the transition to talkies (e.g. Garbo because her Swedish accent matched her mysterious persona), a number of actors who had voices discordant with their character types or foreigners with strong accents soon found themselves losing out. Another movie that shows this is Singin' in the Rain. And like Singin', The Artist works because it makes you feel for the leads and makes you want them to succeed against the odds. Given that we applauded and cheered as the movie ended, I'd say it was a job well done!
And so, what's not to enjoy? One of the best movies I've seen for a while, although knowledge of the history of Hollywood film maybe a bit necessary!
8/10
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