I am going to beginning by saying in this day and age it takes cinematic courage to make a black and white film. It takes even more courage to make a black and white silent film. Michel Hazanavicius showed theatre goers just how good a silent, black and film could be with The Artist. This movie released on the 20th of January, and I saw it yesterday on the 17th of March, a film lasting nearly two months (I’m sure it will be at the show for three more days) is quite remarkable, especially since I went to a large and highly used theatre. The fact The Artist is still playing at the theatre is a testament to just how great this movie is, and it really is an amazing movie on so many levels.
If you had read my review on Imagine, Inspire, Illuminate, you know I have a high appreciation for silent films. The acting by actor Jean Durjardin and actress Bérénice Bejo is phenomenal, and they truly are artists of the day for being able to convey so much emotion and passion without speaking. In an unintentional nod to the beginning of Up, Hazanavicius creates a better love story without a word being spoken then most movies even come close which just end up being one-time hits, he just takes an hour and forty minutes. Think of Durjardin as a Humphrey Bogart and Bejo as Lauren Bacall, that is the amount of hidden sexuality between the two in developing their love. The Artist is far from a won hit wonder, just look at the Oscar results to see that.
At the Oscars it took home best actor, best achievement in directing, best achievement in costume design, best achievement in written score, and of course best motion picture of the year. Sure five awards are not a sweep, but those categories are all very impressive and an additional five nominations against insanely good movies. The Artist deserved the awards it received because the film truly was a work of art.
The theme of film as art is highly central to the film and perhaps it was a mild attack on the industry by Hazanavicius. How can silent films convey the same message “talkies” do, and the simple answer is they do not. Silent films require a different take to watching as they require more imagination and attention to detail. There are probably twenty intertitles, maybe thirty, throughout The Artist. This leaves a lot of imagination to the viewer to decide the story and imagine what is being said. The mannerisms of the actors convey this even as every movement detail is meticulously planned to aid the story and help the viewer decipher the film. It is exceptionally hard to do something such as that and yet The Artist does it with such ease it almost appears effortless, notch in my book of the actors being true artists in their crafts not just actors.
Costume wise the film is gorgeous. Anytime a film has men wearing tuxedos and suits, and women in dresses the film always gets a plus in my book. It is more personal but those days of high elegance where societal expectations wanted power and elegance for going out to a theatre is something I long for once more. However, even if you do not agree to my extent (it is allowed) the costumes are still amazing because they convey the feelings of the years at hand. Starting at the end of the roaring twenties and ending mid-depression, the costumes transform and fit the changing times without losing any power or elegance from the change.
In the theatre I will say I was the youngest, by around forty years at least. However, do not let the silence throw you off from seeing this movie, the musical score is beyond description. The Artist is a movie worth seeing and owning, it is one of the rare movies which comes out and makes you remember everything you appreciate about cinema, actors, and directors.
No comments:
Post a Comment