The Artist Review

It became apparent to me that The Artist would be a surprisingly difficult movie to track down, despite the nation-wide hype and critical acclaim to what has been dubbed the film of the year, you would think the local multiplex would show it, how wrong could I be? My search took me to an Art-House cinema in Richmond which is quite away from where I live, having said that I told myself I had to see this movie and I can tell you, it was worth it.

The Artist is one of the rarities in contemporary cinema where it takes a concept, like the fact that the movie is silent and doesn’t use it as a gimmick but that very detail enhances the film. You’re probably a little confused if you haven’t heard about it yet, so I’ll explain the premise. Essentially it is about the death of the silent era and therefore the death of George Valentin’s acting career, and the birth of one Peppy Miller’s, but there’s a twist, the movie is silent and shot in black and white, not only this but the director, Michel Hazanavicius filmed it in ‘Academy Ratio’ which probably doesn’t mean a lot to most of you, but it’s basically the aspect ratio that movies used to be shot in during the silent era. This gives it a whole new dimension, given all these changes the film feels very natural, which does work in its favour and I hope that this will be accepted by the mainstream because this film really does deserve success.

It’s very hard to put your finger on the defining aspect of The Artist that made it so beautiful, the acting was superb with both stars showing their knack for physical comedy and story-telling, the direction was wonderful and there was this brilliant symmetry to the film which was a recurring feature, and the script was exciting and accessible, but I think the reason why it was so great, was its charm. It was magical, I was emotionally engaged in the narrative and being a fairly monotonous teenager that’s very hard for a film to achieve and it did so brilliantly. There are some inevitable problems like the plot felt a bit cliché at times, but any hint of what may be considered conventional is broken by the simple fact that every other characteristic of The Artist is so different to anything else.

As you may have heard it features a quite outstanding performance from none other than a dog, who not only has exceptional comical timing but a versatile set of acting skills. The comic Jack Russell   very much steals the show, demonstrating his doggy tricks with precision. All sounds a bit serious really for a dog, I guess what I’m trying to say is ‘be prepared to fall in love with Uggie’. 

The class and cinematic knowledge Michel Hazanavicius clearly has just oozes out of every shot and the music is just such a beautiful addition to it, and largely contributes to the ease of the film, without it, The Artist would feel slightly static so a major hats off to the Director and the composer, Ludovic Bource who does a marvellous job. The best film of last 2011 by a country mile, if it still counts as a 2011 film, if not it has set the benchmark very high for anything that is to come of 2012.     

It is so different and fresh and exciting, please please please go and watch this movie, it is a true modern masterpiece and you will not regret it. Be patient let yourself sink into the silent world and enjoy it as an entirely different experience to anything you’ve seen before.

*****