I felt a great affection for him. I've seen "The Artist" three times, and each time it was applauded, perhaps because the audience was surprised at itself for liking it so much. It's good for holiday time, speaking to all ages in a universal language. Silent films can weave a unique enchantment. During a good one, I fall into a reverie, an encompassing absorption that drops me out of time. I also love black and white, which some people assume they don't like. For me, it's more stylized and less realistic than color, more dreamlike, more concerned with essences than details.
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until his death in In , he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Rated PG for a disturbing image and a crude gesture. Jean Dujardin as George Valentin. Missi Pyle as Constance. Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller. James Cromwell as Clifton. Penelope Ann Miller as Doris. John Goodman as Al Zimmer. Malcolm McDowell as Extra. You've become stupid! In order to do so, French director Michel Hazanavicius decided to make this film almost entirely without sound and in black and white.
Many producers would've probably thought he was crazy for trying to make a film like this in these days where viewers are used to seeing spectacular and colorful movies with great sound and even in 3D. However, The Artist works perfectly and is one of the brightest films of the year despite being in black and white. The cinematography is spectacular perhaps only rivaled this year by The Tree of Life and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy , the costume design and editing are among the best of the year, and the score is also amazing.
This is truly a beautiful film that many film historians will enjoy for the nice tribute it renders to the age of silent films. Many famous actors during this era weren't able to make the transition to the talkies, and that is exactly what The Artist is about, and it does it in a very simplistic but stylized fashion.
It will probably walk away with the Best Picture title considering how appealing the subject matter is to the Academy, and how well the film was crafted. Please don't be scared off because the movie is silent or in black and white because the story is really entertaining and despite being colorless it is brighter than any other film released this year. It is really worth a watch; you won't regret it. The year is and George Valentin Jean Dujardin is at the height of his artistic career.
He is a very successful Hollywood actor and producer Al Zimmer John Goodman is very pleased with his work. After having succeeded together yet again in a recent film, they are already collaborating for their next project. They hit it off instantly sharing a dance number and George insists that Peppy should get the part. Pepper falls in love immediately with George, but he is married to Doris Penelope Ann Miller so their relationship is entirely professional.
George gives Peppy the best advice she would ever receive: In order to make it in the industry she needs to be different and he paints a spot near her lip. This will be her trademark later on as she slowly begins rising to the spotlight during the arrival of the talkies.
Valentin however, isn't lucky and realizes his days as a successful actor are coming to an end with the advent of these talking pictures. People want to see new faces and hear their voices. Al Zimmer realizes this and breaks relations with George, so Valentin decides to produce, direct, and star in his own silent film.
The movie is a failure as people want to see these new talkies, and as Valentin's fame becomes to decline, Peppy Miller begins to grow into a superstar. The times have changed for the great artists and fortunes are reversed. The Artist is among my top ten favorite films of the year and it works really well, not only as homage to these silent films, but as a love story as well.
Along with Midnight in Paris, these are perhaps the two best romantic movies of the year and would make for an excellent date. I've already mentioned some of the technical aspects, but now I would like to praise the performances from Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, and the dog which was played in most part by Uggie. I can't leave out the dog, because he plays an important role in this film, and in a way is Valentin's faithful companion and savior.
Jean Dujardin does deserve the Oscar nomination for his performance, he was terrific, and I think I enjoyed it over George Clooney's. If he wins, it will be well deserved. My favorite performance of the film however, comes from Berenice Bejo, who was also nominated as a supporting actress.
She is just terrific and shines every time she's on screen. Her performance gives this black and white movie a lot of color. I've never seen the movie, nor its sequel, but after seeing The Artist I'm very much interested in doing so.
Overall this is a terrific film and one you won't want to miss. How do you make a silent movie in ? After all, the studios are tooled up for 3D, actors programmed to learn lines, and hardly any orchestras are invited to play the movie score live in a pit beneath the cinema screen these? One thing that helped was playing music on set that really gave the actors the mood for a scene.
I used a lot of great classical Hollywood composers — Hermann, Bernstein, Korngold, Waxman, music from movies like Sunset Boulevard or Laura — to tell the actors the mood I wanted.
Shooting a silent movie also had benefits for the overwhelmingly American crew on the set: they did not have to keep silent after he shouted "Action!
The dog trainers for Valentin's trusty Jack Russell sidekick Uggy, for instance, were able to yell out instructions during filming, safe in the knowledge all their "Sits!
The Artist shouldn't have been a success, but it is and has proved a calling card for him in Hollywood. If they think that's all I do, I will change. All I know is that the best way to make shit is to do what you've done because you act out of a recipe.
From the people who made The Sopranos, which to me is at the level of Dostoevsky, that is so flattering. The Artist must have done wonders for Hazanavicius's reputation, I suggest. People thought of me as a pasticheur, but I'm also co-author of a documentary about genocide in Rwanda.
I'm not this Neanderthal guy who just makes a good show — although that is difficult enough. I only have one obsession — not to be boring. The Artist: the silent film they said no one wanted to see.
Friends laughed at Michel Hazanavicius when he wanted to make a silent movie. But Harvey Weinstein loved it — and bought it.
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