The Artist

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bcnups
GRAMMY Award
Posts: 190
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 11:29 am

The Artist

Post by bcnups »

Firstly, I need to digress a little. I saw Hugo when it came out, and I wondered how many of the young cinema goers could relate to the onset of moving pictures. It's difficult now to appreciate the enormous impact that early cinema had on the general public. It caused a sensation! Scorsese wanted to pay due homage to the early pioneers. By now you'll gather I'm a movie nut.
I missed The Artist at my local multiplex, but bought it on dvd. I haven't read any reviews, but I knew that it had won 5 Oscars. I knew very little about it until I watched the special features at the end of the disc.
This film is the culmination of the French director's vision of an important "moment" in the history of Hollywood - the advent of "talkies". (which if I can recall, was the main theme of the musical Singin' in the Rain). But here, the film maker was incredibly bold and made a silent film, and in black and white. (I'd like to have been a fly on the wall, when they pitched that to the money men!). Its a loving recreation of Los Angeles in the 1920-30's, with authentic locations, some original props from Mack Sennett days, fabulous costumes etc. Filmed at 22 frames per second which only very slightly speeded up the action when projected, so it had the "feel" of the old two reelers. Jean Dujardin in the role of George Valentin, is the "French George Clooney", (and does not have a full command of the English language in real life), is really amazing; as is his costar, Berenice (can't remember her surname) the wife of the director. They did have dialogue of course, you just didn't hear it! They had to convey every nuance by body language and facial expressions. (By ACTING).) Did I mention that I loved this film? I forgot they weren't talking about five minutes into the feature. Did I say I loved this film? Hey everybody, I loved this film. Oh, and the dog.....
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