Movie: The Artist (Best picture oscar winner)
Now I dont like the french, cant stand the French actually even though Paris is probably my favourite city, but one thing the French do have is an outstanding movie industry. They after all gave us cinema and the movies with the Lumiere brothers producing the first commercially produced movie, Oberammergau Passion Play released in 1898 (title confirmed by Wiki), as much as Hollywood dont like admitting that the French came first. The French movie industry however has been a sleeping giant for too many years staying rather introverted and not getting a chance to push past the Hollywood big studios, not that they tried. So despite my dislike of the French I cant hold it against one of their directors if he wants a shot at the big time.
So as many people know this film has been akin to a juggernaut sweeping up all the major awards including the big kahuna in the Oscar. On the face of it it appears your standard best picture oscar winner fare in ticking all the usual major boxes (take the following as a guide how to win the best picture oscar)
1. Released between December and January.
2. Have a theme that will stand out from the rest.
3. Dont feature any fantasy or science fiction (yes LOTR will always remain the exception to the rule)
4. Make sure it doesnt do very well at the box office (again there are a few odd exceptions such as Titanic and LOTR)
So the major question is how is it as an actual movie, is it actually any good?
Having watched the movie to form my own impressions yesterday my overwhelming answer is, quite refreshingly, yes. This is an outstanding movie, one of the few I've seen that I would call a masterpiece.
The movie takes up the story of an actor called George Valentin (Jean DuJardin in a masterful performance) who is one of the big shots of the silent movie era who when talkies take over refuses to become a talking actor and so gradually loses everything. As far as I know this is a fictional story but it does reflect reality as this happened to many actors of the early cinema era. The movie opens with a shot of a packed cinema theatre, like all the major cinemas were back then (hence the phrase movie theatre) at a premiere and follows George leaving the cinema and taking the applause of the masses, something we are very familiar with in this celebrity obsessed culture of ours. It is most definitely imprinted that this guy is major news. On leaving the theatre however a tangle ensues with a young lady there who is a major fan who kisses George and so subsequently all the papers of the time are in uproar, just as they would be today, wondering just who this girl is. Anyay the movie continues to show that they start a bit of an affair, George being married at the time, and she becomes an actress who the talkies then embrace and becomes major. The film follows our two actors as George loses everything, the young lady, Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), becomes the next major movie star.
What works so very well in this movie is the sense of humanity it captures. The increasing despair of George is counterbalanced with the increasing joy and success of Peppy, the themes we are talking about here and the feelings of the two featured characters are ones we can all empathise with as human beings and we wish to follow the characters to find out how they will end up. The amazing thing here is of course that all of this is done without a single word being said as this, as has been so very well publicised is a silent movie. But watching it you can see that this wouldnt work as well if it was done any other way. In being silent the thoughts and words in your mind are your own, apart from the occasional caption on screen, as such you feel for the characters in a far more personal way.
My favourite sequence in this movie is a sequence of a dream that George has when he encounters sounds for what is made to seem the first time and his despair and realisation that all the objects around him are making noises apart from his own voice. This I would place up there with the Ezekiel 25:17 sequence from Pulp Fiction as being sheer genius movie making.
Verdict: If you can see a movie as an art form then see this one as its one of the best you will see. If all you want from movies is spectactular sequences and CGI its probably best avoided as none of it is here. ( But I'll say if that is your thing is try and broaden your mind). Every respect to the French and indeed the director Michel Hazanavicius for creating a true masterpiece of our time.
No comments:
Post a Comment