It seems the biggest movie of the year is The Artist.
Overall it won five Oscars which is no small feat for a foreign film. I didn’t
think it would win Best Picture if I’m honest as the Americans very rarely give
Academy Awards to movies that are remotely foreign.
The Artist is foreign in two ways, first it is from France
with many French cast and crew, secondly it’s completely against what’s normal
in modern cinema. For a start it’s a silent movie which is pretty irregular in
the age of soddingly loud THX promos.
At first I was apprehensive about seeing it as it’s
something I’m not exactly used to, but it didn’t take me long to get used to it
and enjoy it. It’s as funny as it is charming and the fact there is no speech
only adds to the whole experience of the movie.
The movie centres around a silent movie star who becomes
increasingly marginalised by the progression of cinema as it went from silent
movies to those with actual sound! It’s good because we get to see his slow
demise from hugely popular movie star to a complete nobody, which sounds quite
depressing but it’s actually very heart-warming, and very funny in many places.
In a way it reminds me of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo where a film director loses
his popularity due to a change in the trends.
However the real star for me is Uggie the dog who steals the
show every time he’s on screen. He isn’t just there for the fun of it, he
actually has a part to play in the film. He’s as hilarious as he is charming
and frankly should have won the Oscar!
I really do struggle to find anything wrong with it at all,
it’s just a fun little comedy that not only provides laughs but also does the
era it represents proud. If there is to be a problem with this film it would
only be the fact that if you see it in the cinema it amplifies the popcorn
rustling and sweet wrapper crackling all the more.
When it's all (not) said and done The Artist is a great tribute to an era of cinema that has
long been forgotten about; it definitely deserved its successes at the various
award nights it was a part of.
Final Verdict: 5 Stars. Très bien.
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