Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman
You old farts need to embrace the new or you’re gonna get
left behind. That’s basically the message of The Artist, the Best Picture winning film that, I admit, did quite
a decent job at proving that point despite a majority of the film being nothing
but orchestra. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with these kinds of
movies; I’ve watched them before, but I usually have to be in a mood for them;
I don’t just watch these on a whim (which is how it gets in the box, aka The
Forced Whim Randomizer). If you feel the same way, which is possibly a lot of
you, let me be honest and say that I was surprised how enjoyable this was. I
suggest you give it a shot.
Now, it isn’t mind-blowing. Well…it is at first; it is
magical and whimsical and fun! It’s the story of a silent film star, George
Valentin, who is at the pinnacle of his career. His fans love him almost as
much as he loves himself and business is good. That is until business opens its
mouth and words come out. With this new age of talking pictures set to hit the
silver screen, Valentin merely laughs it off as a fad that will die out before
it ever gains steam. Oh foolish, foolish man.
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| Who's That Girl? I have no clue, but hey! It's Malcolm McDowell! I know that guy! |
His folly is told through the story of Peppy Miller who,
after a seemingly innocent encounter with Valentin, decides to try and break
into the movie business in hopes of meeting him again. Starting out as a
small-time dancer in some of the silent movies, she does embrace the awe of
audio and her career skyrockets while Valentin’s crumbles. Though she does get
her meetings with Valentin again early on, as their paths go in drastically
different directions, the connection that she was hoping to make and maintain
becomes near impossible.
As we watch the stubbornness of a man refusing to get out of
his element, all of the other elements of his life start to turn on him. Losing
his home, his marriage, and his job, Valentin tries to cling to whatever life
he had, even going so far as to make his own movie in hopes that he’ll find his
old audience excited to see him again (because those who can’t do, direct). But
the world moves on without him, as it is entitled to do, and there is no place for
a man who refuses to embrace a new age.
Keep in mind, 95% of this movie is silent, with mere
orchestrations in the background and the occasional sound effect used to demonstrate
the descent into decibel hell. Think of it like how Pleasantville used their break-ins of color to show movement and
acceptance from one societal era into the next. Because of that, it requires
you keep your attention, which is hard for me sometimes, but I will give it
props for managing to do so. There was plenty of charm and the soundtrack was
playful and kept me engaged in the story, which was quite a good story. Some
misplays and I felt Valentin’s fall to despair wasn’t quite deserving of the
direction it went for as much as the film was willing to show of it (like most
silent films you, the audience, are expected to fill A LOT of blanks), but ya
know, I was quite impressed!
As we all know, audio killed the silent video star, but
thankfully this movie is merely a story of two people living during that time and
told mostly in a way that reflects the age of entertainment back then. This is
an art piece much like macaroni pictures are an art piece to a kindergartener. Don’t
read more into it than what is right there; it makes sense for the time. This
won’t (and didn’t) spawn a wave of silent film, nor does it dare to find flaws
in talking pictures in hopes that the public will say “aww, it’s like back when
movies were good!” Lord knows I certainly didn’t want to switch on Turner
Classic Movies as soon as this was done.
I keep trying to think of what I would have like to see to
bump up the score on this one (on top of some picky-bastard story adjustments).
It was a great movie, beautifully told and incredibly daring but I can’t give
it bonus points simply for that. Conceptually yeah, a 10 out of 10, but I just
didn’t enjoy it to a 10 out of 10. The longer I watched, the harder it was to appreciate
considering that what kept me amazed at the start was all of the charm and wit
that the story naturally had to eliminate to tell itself effectively.
I still say watch it. It’s worth the watch and it’s also
worth 8 out of 10 dustbusters from me.
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