I’m going on a limb and calling Emperor’s new clothes on the much applauded The Artist. It seems like every movie reviewer is falling over themselves to masturbate how much they love classic silent film – and frankly I wager that at least half of them have never seen anything other than a snippet from a shitty Charlie Chaplin film. And why would they – let’s be honest for a moment, the reason why ‘talkies’ took off was ‘cos over-acted facial expressions to convey meaning are just really annoying. And everyone hates mimes; it’s a science-fact.
So yeah, The Artist is this years critic’s darling. It won Best Film, Actor and Original Score at the Golden Globes and has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture (but so has War Horse, so, it’s pretty obvious the Academy are clueless).
The premise of the film is that George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a successful silent movie star when the arrival of sound and talking pictures derails his career. At the same time, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), a vibrant young actress who got her start in the business thanks to Valentin, thrives in talkies and becomes a major star. Wow, what a twist huh? Who saw that coming? Well, you sure as hell wouldn’t have heard it coming, because we’re treated like simpletons by film-maker Michel Hazanavicius who repeats the same gag – that it’s a silent movie, with upteen variations, through the 100 minutes. Yes, it’s a silent film made in 2011. We get it. Ha-flipping-ha-ha.
The plot and love story are thin and the jokes lack any sophistication whatsoever. If the film was 92 minutes shorter it’d be a contender for a 48 hour film competition.
Don’t listen to the hype. See what I did there? Yep, that’s as good as the gags in this French romantic comedy get. - review by Andrew Tidball
The Artist opens in NZ Cinema’s 9 Feb 2012
Peter
February 1, 2012
Glad someone said it.
The thought of all these movie reviewers sitting in a silent room rubbing one out makes me feel ill.
James
February 1, 2012
WOW Scrooge. Are you feeling okay mr. reviewer? It makes me sad that you react thus to such a wonderful film. I feel you are reacting more against the hype than the film. How would you have reacted if you had been offered a screening before the awards season, before anyone else in the world had seen it? Don’t be a hype reviewer – be a film reviewer!
I found this to be such a magical cinema experience. This film thrilled me. One scene in particular made me laugh out loud in dumbfounded delight. ‘Did he?… Is it?…Yes!!’ – that was me, cracking up like a gleeful child!
You can treat the idea of a contemporary silent film as a disdainful novelty or you can, well, not. I thought it was extremely well made and intelligent, and that it did not condescend to its viewers, like so many other films.
I can’t recommend The Artist enough! And yes it is silent, but in fact it has musical accompaniment and it is a wonderful score. This is a thrilling entertainment. Go see it in a cinema!
Devon
February 28, 2012
I agree with James. I think this review is a little bit disappointing – and not because my opinion on the film contradicts it, but because you really seem to be reviewing the response to this film, rather than the film’s quality.
Unlike what your oh-so ‘well filmed’ comment regarding other reviewers’ experience with silent films suggests, it seems that you haven’t really paid any attention to what I think – not having seen a silent film before myself, but still found quite clear – appears to be the purpose of a silent film: to make a ‘dialogue’ without words. I think this film met that purpose well, and I think that it did it with tongue-in-cheek, purposeful ‘quaintness’ as a kind of play on silent film. What you seem to be mistaking as bad humor, I think, is purposefully just that.
I could go on. But I won’t. Maybe just pay attention to the film itself and not your high-brow opinion of others’ relationship with it.