Oscars 2012 Nominations: Initial Reaction

Leave a reply

The Oscar Nominations were announced today, and there was less surprises in the movies included and more in those that were excluded. Those snubs are for another post entirely.

After a late release date and tepid reviews, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” pulled off a surprise Best Picture nomination, as well as a Supporting Actor nod for Max von Sydow. Like Christopher Plummer, he is another veteran actor who has yet to take an Oscar home. Plummer, thought to be the guarenteed winner, now has some competition. Things just got interesting.

Meanwhile, “Hugo” received the most nominations of any movie this year, with a whopping total of 11. Frontrunner “The Artist” follows close behind with 10. The amount of nominations a movie receives usually doesn’t usually equal a win, but “Hugo” definitely became a much more serious contender than it was prior to today.

The most satisfying part of the nominations is the prominent presence of pure comedies in the major categories. Woody Allen deservedly returned to the Best Picture and Best Director race with “Midnight in Paris.” Meanwhile, “Bridesmaids” scored nominations for Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo in the Original Screenplay category, and for Melissa McCarthy as a supporting actress. This will mark the first time in Oscar history that a mainstream R-rated comedy with a combined puke and diarrhea joke gets to be nominated. It looks like comedies are finally starting to be taken more seriously. Maybe if “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” and “Superbad” had come out this year, they could’ve been contenders, too.

Full list of nominations here. My annual list of snubs will be published tomorrow. 

Speaking of comedies, Jim Rash is one of the writers who is nominated for “The Descendants.” Yes, this guy.

Movie Review: Me and You and Everyone We Know

Leave a reply

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible to ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
-Dr. Seuss

Few movies could be as polarizing, yet as undeniably well made, as Miranda July’s “Me and You and Everyone We Know.” Some will angrily walk out of it believing they have just seen the typical, nonsensical Sundance entry. Others will take a queue from the opening credits, which are placed against a man setting his own hand on fire, and be prepared for the totally unexpected.

“Me and You and Everyone We Know” is told in a series vignettes that sometimes overlap, and sometimes don’t. July plays Christine Jersperson, the perky and awkward performance artist who has a day job as a driver for Elder Cab. She struggles to sell her art, which consists of videos of her acting out various dialogues, usually concerning people in love.

Richard Swersey (John Hawkes), who had set his hand on fire in the first scene, foolishly thinking he could pull off a magic trick, is recently separated from his wife and he tries his best to bring his two sons up right. His two young boys take to the Internet and form a twisted relationship in a chat room, while two neighboring and insecure teenage girls vie for the attention of a creepy man who lives next door. They may all vary in age, but they are all dumbfounded by the seemingly meaningless direction of life.

July, a former Portland based performance artist in real life, has created a movie that is itself a piece of performance art: every scene depends on an audience reaction in order to get it going to its intended effect. There are so many different scenes that push it to a limit, whether it be the hand burning or the goldfish scene. In the memorable yet perplexing goldfish scene, a goldfish in a water-filled plastic bag is tossed from car to car on the highway. In a way, it shows how helpless each character in the ensemble is to the unfolding of their own story and in the way that the fish’s survival depends on the movement of each car, so does each character depend on the actions of one another.

July is just as good of an actress as she is a writer and director. She displays a delicate emotional vulnerability that is funny and sometimes sad. While her speaking manner is awkward and timid, her presence is always inviting. When her and Hawkes are on screen together, they share an uncomfortable chemistry that makes it seem as if each of them was a puzzle piece that was meant to be together. Creating this can be tough, but these two actors rose to the occasion and succeeded. 
Watching “Me and You and Everyone We Know” made me think of Todd Solondz’s “Happiness.” Just as that movie was about the many eccentric lengths people go to in order to find happiness, this movie is about the crazy lengths people will go in order to find what they think is love. In the end, love is not some universally known feeling. It is something that can only be shared amongst a select group, it is what connects me and you and everyone we know. 
“Me and You and Everyone We Know” is filled with many deep and powerful images that might not hold as much significance on a first viewing. I began to appreciate the film more during round two. You will begin to notice little things, such as one image at the beginnings that mirrors a painting shown at the end, and the combination of those two is rather remarkable. I would not call this a nice little movie, as some of the characters do things that wouldn’t necessarily make them likable. However, it is a movie that is very quiet and mature throughout all of its humorous instances. It is not a concluding resolution, but rather a concluding feeling, that defines everything. Movies don’t do that often enough. 

Golden Globes 2012: My Predictions

Leave a reply

Since the Golden Globes don’t mean much towards the Oscars, and they are actually kind of a sham (last year, “Burlesque” was nominated after some actions that most people would consider to be corrupt), I will not spend too much time analyzing who will win and why. The Globes are a fun night to watch everyone in Hollywood get drunk and compliment each other. However, with Ricky Gervais hosting again, another large scale takedown seems possible.

Since you probably don’t care much anyway, without much further adieu, here are my predicted winners for tonight’s Golden Globes in all of the major film categories*:

Best Picture (Drama): The Descendants Upset: The Help


Best Picture (Musical or Comedy^): The Artist Upset: Midnight in Paris


Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) Upset: Alexander Payne (The Descendants)


Best Actor (Drama): George Clooney (The Descendants) Upset: Brad Pitt (Moneyball)


Best Actress (Drama): Viola Davis (The Help) Upset: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)


Best Actor (Musical or Comedy): Jean Dujardin (The Artist) Upset: Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris)


Best Actress (Musical or Comedy): Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) Upset: Charlize Theron (Young Adult)


Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners) Upset: Jonah Hill (Moneyball)


Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (The Help) Upset: Berenice Bejo (The Artist)


Best Screenplay: The Descendants


*I have neglected to include the TV nominees, as the absence of “Breaking Bad,” “Community,” and “Parks & Recreation” lead me to believe that those categories don’t even exist this year.
^This is among the dumbest pairings of all time.

Attention Everyone: The New Wes Anderson Trailer Has Arrived

1 Reply

Lately, I’ve been complaining a lot about terrible, no good, misleading trailers for movies. That temporarily ends today, as the trailer for Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” has arrived. Not only does it make this movie look fantastic, but it is most likely showing exactly what we will get, maybe that’s simply because Anderson has a very distinct style of filmmaking. It almost looks like a series of children’s drawings.

I love everything about this trailer. I love the outdated look of it. I love the French soundtrack. I love that it includes a clip of Edward Norton saying the phrase “Jiminy Cricket,” which brings back the use of the phrase “cuss” in “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Anderson’s last movie (and one of my favorite movies of the last decade). I love that the rest of the cast includes Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, and Bill Murray. Seriously can Bill Murray win an Oscar for this role? Just because he’s Bill Murray?

But I digress. Watch the trailer below. Then re-watch it a few more times like I did:

Movie Review: The Purple Rose of Cairo

Leave a reply

Warning: The following review contains some content that many would consider to be spoilers, mainly because it is hard to discuss this film without giving a lot of the story away (especially the ending). So if you haven’t seen this movie, just go rent it right now based on this sentence alone. 

When I was younger, I was one of those kids who thought I could free the miniature people trapped inside the TV set. Luckily, my parents never let me play with a hammer.

Woody Allen probably never had a hammer either, but he did have the ability to write a superb script. “The Purple Rose of Cairo” combines Allen’s gift for realistic fantasy story telling with chaos theory. The result is one of his finest films.

Cecilia (Mia Farrow) is a wishful thinker and a bit of a dreamer. That might be because she lives in Depression era New Jersey (any era New Jersey would probably be bad enough), has an abusive husband (Danny Aiello), and works a dead end job as a waitress which she is eventually fired from. Things like this would want to make anyone want to escape into the comfort of a good movie every single day.

Cecilia frequents the action-adventure-romance picture “The Purple Rose of Cairo.” Enough is seen of this movie’s story that “The Purple Rose of Cairo” becomes a movie-within-a-movie with the movie within it also being called “The Purple Rose of Cairo.” Hope your head doesn’t hurt too much yet, because the main character of the movie within a movie, the explorer Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) literally walks off the screen and into Cecilia’s life.

Tom is the kind of man that could only exist in Cecilia’s dreams: he’s strong, brave, and romantic. Meanwhile, she’s used to a weak-willed alcoholic. The best part of this whole act is that there is absolutely no explanation for it. It is similar to the way that Allen goes to no length to explain Gil’s ability to travel back in time in “Midnight in Paris.” Save the science behind it for a J.J. Abrams movie. All that matters to Allen is the ensuing reactions if seemingly impossible situations such as a movie character coming to life were to happen to an ordinary person.  

In accordance to Chaos Theory (sorry, there has to be at least a little background philosophizing here), the movie-within-a-movie’s story cannot go on without the presence of even a minor character such as Tom. This leaves the characters in the movie within to partake in much philosophical kvetching. Meanwhile the actor playing Tom, Gil Shepherd (Daniels, again), is left to ponder his next career move after this debacle occurs, and he eventually, like his own character, finds himself falling for Cecilia after they meet.

“The Purple Rose of Cairo” might be Allen’s saddest movie. Well, almost every one of his movies ends on some sort of note of melancholy. However, this is one of the few that leaves its protagonist with too many problems and too little hope. Maybe the funniest thing about this movie is that even though it tells us that movies provide the best form of escape, the bigger movie itself is as far from escapism as possible.

This is a movie that tends to also be really funny at times. I love the way the characters attending the screening of “The Purple Rose of Cairo” interact with the characters on the screen. Everyone is so surprised as to what as happened, but no reacts in any over-the-top way. Reacting as little as possible to a situation that requires a more emotional reaction is always funny. Escapism is okay as long as we know that we are escaping into a realm of fiction, and not into a realm of reality.

“The Purple Rose of Cairo” is a great black comedy about the absurdity of reality. Every one of its characters, even the minor ones, are memorable in some way. Farrow steals the show as the abused mess of a woman, and she is absent of the high-pitched shriek voice that she would have to take on two years later in “Radio Days.” She also owned the ukulele before Zooey Deschanel and her army of hipsters decided to take it over. Daniels also gives my favorite performance I have ever seen him in (“Dumb & Dumber”) in two different roles, one being the overly confident pseudo-intellectual that Allen so frequently mocks.

The scene in which Tom Baxter first jumps off the screen, even by today’s standard of special effects, still feels magical and jarring. Maybe it is the way he so suddenly changes from black and white into color.

The conclusion of “The Purple Rose of Cairo” is one that is beautiful even in its sadness. Cecilia seems to have become more self-aware, yet she remains just as sheltered by the cinema. After Gil leaves town without telling her and she realizes her husband won’t change, she returns to the theater and watches Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing with a sense of both desolation and wonderment. Perhaps it was at that moment she understood that that was the best her life would ever get: to sit inside a theater and watch two people who don’t exist feel a sense of happiness that she would never get to feel. Maybe every once in a while, being drawn in by the flashing light of film from a projector can be a good thing. It can heal wounds and make the pains of life feel just a little bit better.

Check This Out: If We Don’t, Remember Me

Leave a reply

I have been meaning to share If We Don’t Remember Me for a while now. It is a gallery of living, moving movie stills (or GIFs, in Internet speak). IWDRM has found a way to maximize the art of the movie still: it is no longer just a still image, but a living encapsulation of a brief moment in time. Watch endlessly, the moment before Travis Bickle snaps, or notice a sense of humor you didn’t notice before in Sergio Leone’s films. Some are funny and endearing, others are subtle and almost moving. In between my viewing of videos of cats morphing into croissants and the dog from “The Artist” skateboarding (is there anything this dog can’t do?), there is something subtle and quiet to be addicted to on the Internet.

I don’t think I need to say much more, I am now going to let a few of my favorite stills from the site speak for themselves:

Blow-Up
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Fight Club

American Psycho
Taxi Driver
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2001: A Space Odyssey

Red Tails: On Dubstep, False Advertising, and My Hatred of Kids

Leave a reply

We here at The Reel Deal enjoy making fun of George Lucas a lot. Mainly, we target him for the fact that hokey Naboo sequence for “Attack of the Clones” and the fact that he will be rereleasing “The Phantom Menace” in 3D later this year.

The latest release under the Lucas name is “Red Tails” or as I will call it here, “DubTales” for the absurd soundtrack that has been accompanying its commercials. During Lucas’s interview on “The Daily Show” on Monday night, I saw a side of him that took me off guard: he was forthright rather than pompous. This looked a lot more like the guy who made “American Graffiti” and “A New Hope.”

“DubTales” is yet another movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, the brave African American fighter pilots who, against all odds, took to the sky and fought for America during World War II. Lucas has been working on this movie since 1988, and various people, including himself and Samuel L. Jackson, have been slated to direct. Anthony Hemingway is slated to direct a final script written by John Ridley. Anthony is unfortunately not related to Ernest, but Ridley is credited with the story for “Three Kings,” one of the best war movies ever made. Perhaps he can bring something original to a story that has been told so many times on film.

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg raping Indiana Jones (courtesy of South Park). 

The story behind the making of “DubTales” is an interesting story itself. According to Lucas, studios were hesitant to finance a story like this. Studios today largely concentrate on foreign box office, as that is where the real money is. It is no longer just about making movies that will appeal to Middle America, but what will appeal to the rest of the world. Instead of doing careful research, the easiest thing to do in order to break cultural barriers is to make movies that have less emphasis on story, and more emphasis on explosions. This explains the existence of the “Transformers” series.

So apparently, an inspirational story about African Americans won’t sell well overseas. I have never conducted a focus group, and don’t know if any were actually conducted to reach this conclusion, but the most perplexing part about this is that even George Lucas can have trouble getting a movie made.

Lucas was not trying to make “DubTales” for a foreign audience. Rather, he is targeting it toward teenage boys, whom he would like to learn more about this momentous story. That explains the Dubstep soundtrack in the trailer. I appreciate his efforts, but adding music like this to a movie about World War II seems wrong. It feels less like finding the right audience and more like pandering. And how could I resist making fun of blatant pandering? Teenage boys should be encouraged to see movies about history, but they should not be the one deciding the way in which they are made.

This picture has no purpose here, I just think it’s funny.

It is very possible that this ad was just an attempt to grab an audience and not a reflection on the actual film. I have been starting to trust ad campaigns for movies less and less by the day, thanks in part to how the trailers for “War Horse,” “Hugo,” and “Young Adult” represented their respective movies so inaccurately. Trailers are not the selling of the actual product, that is what buying tickets is for. Trailers are meant as a tool for hype, but given that no one seems to know how to represent a movie accurately nowadays, studios should look into heavier use of word of mouth.

I believe George Lucas cares more about the movies he makes than he lets on, and I will consider seeing “Red Tails,” but never “DubTales.”

Watch the Interview Here:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
George Lucas
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

2011: In A Weak Year, There Are Still 10 Best Movies

1 Reply

2011 wasn’t necessarily a bad year for movies. Sure, it looks poor when compared to 2010, which boasted both “Black Swan” and “The Social Network.” Just like any other year, 2011 had too many great movies to fit on just one list but as always, I will try.

Choosing number one this year was difficult. I didn’t know what to choose, so I looked to my heart, my head, and my gut. My heart said “War Horse,” my head said “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and my gut said “Midnight in Paris.” Ultimately my heart won out, but it was a close battle. One of these days, I might have to abandon numbers and simply pick the ten movies I enjoyed most. But for now, these are the best movies of 2011:

1. War Horse- Once the ending credits rolled and I finally found the emotional strength to leave the theater, a thought immediately rushed into my head that was so contagious that it simply wouldn’t go away: “War Horse” is the year’s best movie. The common theme of 2011 was nostalgia and Spielberg brought “War Horse” past its roots into a tribute to the great film epics of the past. Every emotional note hits its mark seamlessly here. The ending itself is enough to reduce any film buff to tears. Its journey into the crushing soul of war and then back again is as rewarding a journey as you’ll take this year. Most times, I would deem a film like “War Horse” as a pandering attempt to win Oscars. This time, I call it the best film of the year.



2. Midnight in Paris- Every few years, Woody Allen has another supposed comeback. However, “Midnight in Paris” is the real thing, and it ranks near “Annie Hall” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” as one of his absolute best. A struggling writer (Owen Wilson, a perfect Woody Allen stand-in) vacationing in Paris looks for answers in the past, and through a thankfully unexplained gap in the space-time continuum, ends up in 1920s Paris, talking to the likes of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. “Midnight in Paris” is the most thoughtful, inventive, and overall, entertaining comedy of the year. And it achieves both of these things by being neither too dark nor too light-hearted. No matter what city he is in, and no matter how old he gets, Woody Allen’s wit, insight, and grasp on human conversation never cease to amaze me.

Midnight in Paris (2011) // Woody Allen



3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- I might have spoken a little too soon when I deemed this the best movie of the year a few weeks ago. Then again, Facebook isn’t necessarily the best form of communication. “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is still among the most extraordinary films of the year. It’s an old fashioned film noir wrapped in crisp digital cinematography, a haunting score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and mesmerizing direction from David Fincher. It is most notable, however, for recreating Lisabeth Salander and making her the female hero the Digital Age. Rooney Mara gives the bravest performance of the year and in one scene, pulls off an act that is shocking even in a time when being shocking and controversial proves all the more difficult. Due to very poor scheduling during a crowded weekend at the end of the year, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” still cannot find the audience it deserves. Yet, the sequel is still in the works. The more time I can spend with Salander and the rest of the “Dragon Tattoo” universe, the better.



4. Hugo- “Martin Scorsese made a children’s movie” was the hype surrounding the release of “Hugo.” What everyone should have been saying is, “Martin Scorsese made another classic.” “Hugo,” a movie about the preservation of movies, plays into this year’s theme of nostalgia. Perhaps Hollywood’s answer to trying to improve the state of movies was to look toward the past. If so, it is working. It also helped that “Hugo” is the only movie I’d encourage anyone go see in 3D, as it actually adds to rather than detracts from the story. It is the most entertaining lesson in film history you’ll ever get. “Hugo” might just give birth to a whole new generation of cinephiles.



5. Young Adult- Mavis (Charlize Theron), the young adult writer from which this movie gets its name, is like an odd mixture of Stephanie Meyer and Paris Hilton. She might be the least likable movie protagonist of the year, but Theron makes Mavis seem so genuine because Theron doesn’t seem to think too highly of her either. “Young Adult” is a turning point in the careers of director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody; it is more in line with the ambiguity of “Up in the Air” and much less precious than “Juno.” “Young Adult” will be a good time capsule movie, as it so accurately portrays America in 2011 in both its disenchantment and its cultural excesses. Perhaps what the misleading advertisements for “Young Adult” should have shown is that this is a not a dark comedy about happiness, but rather a bleak one that shows that when people sugar-coat misery and loneliness, it only makes them feel worse. In a world where reality is processed into such simple comfort fantasies as a young adult novel, “Young Adult” is the jolt of reality that isn’t just for that kid who thought they were so loved in high school, but for a world of filmmakers who feel everything must have a happy ending…

Young Adult (2011) // Jason Reitman



6. 50/50- …but that doesn’t mean a happy ending is a bad thing. Great stories run on hope. “50/50″ is a cancer comedy about living. Writer Will Reiser turned his struggle with cancer at a young age into an unlikely story about beating the odds. The mark of change is letting a negative life experience influence change for the better, and there is no better way to reflect on the past than to find the humor in it. Everyone in the cast is totally in their element, most notably Angelica Huston, Seth Rogen, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The scene in which Gordon-Levitt shaves his head is the bravest thing I’ve seen an actor do on camera this year aside from what Lisabeth Salender does to get revenge on her tormentor. Funny, thoughtful, and spontaneous, “50/50″ is all the better for examining life through a comedic point of view. 

50/50 (2011) // Jonathan Levine



7. The Artist- “The Artist” is more than just that silent movie: it is the year’s most indelibly entertaining film. The clever sound and image play throughout bring “The Artist” to a whole different level of inventiveness. This is both a cinephile’s and a nostalgic’s paradise. This film is essentially timeless in scope and story. Its characters are broad yet so memorable. Leads Jean Dujardin (as George Valentin) and Berence Bejo (as Pepe Miller) have the best chemistry I’ve seen this year. Chemistry is when two actors play off each other naturally and even when the two aren’t together, there seems to be an electrifying force between them that will eventually bring them together. The third act might be a little overlong, but it is worth it for the ending, in which the true reason for Valentin’s refusal to speak is revealed.

The Artist (2011) // Michel Hazanavicius



8. Terri- One of the most overlooked movies of the year that is also one of the year’s best, “Terri” is a weird (in the best sense of the word) little story that is also weirdly inspired. Maybe no one wanted to see it because the idea of a protagonist who gets excited by watching a hawk catch its prey isn’t exactly enticing. Yet the always pajama-clad Terri (Jacob Wysocki) is funny and sincere in an unexpected way. The friendship he forms with the principal (John C. Reilly) feels the exact same way, which is why it was the most believable bond seen on screen this year. “Terri” in general doesn’t seem like the kind of movie that was ever after major awards or box office success. That’s why it feels so pure, and why the relationships it portrays feel so real.



9. Bridesmaids- Most critics put “Bridesmaids” on a ridiculous pedestal as the greatest achievement in feminism since women’s suffrage. Now that the buzz has subsided, “Bridesmaids” can finely step down and be recognized for what it is: an insanely hilarious and even touching big studio comedy. It took me a second viewing to realize that this is not a movie concerned about getting a story across, but rather about stretching a bunch of strange characters and awkward situations to their possible limits, an experiment just to see how long an audience can laugh for. This is why it is even better that they chose to let Kristen Wiig’s drunken airplane tirade go on instead of letting the girls go to Vegas. The astounding success of this movie is a triumph in many ways, especially because it fast-tracked the career of director Paul Feig (“Freaks and Geeks”) and showed that a raunchy but honest movie about friendship could connect with audiences. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, welcome to stardom.

Bridesmaids (2011) // Paul Feig



10. The Tree of Life- Long after its release, “The Tree of Life” is still the most ambitious movie of the year. Even though I am still struggling to figure it all out, I continue to admire the beauty and subtle simplicity of Terrence Malick’s vision. As Malick’s career has advanced, his films have gotten bigger in scope, yet more obscure in message. By setting this story of a Texas family coming of age in the 1950s against the backdrop of dinosaurs and the creation of the Earth, the characters are not just products of that era in American history, but struggling, clashing creatures trying to find the answers to everything and only being able to guess as to where are the right places to look. If Malick is God of this film, then the camera is his non-judging lens looking onto all of humanity. “The Tree of Life” is neither a pretty Windows screensaver nor “The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs”, but rather the work of a famously private director who will only shares himself through his one-of-a-kind films.



Just Missed the List: Source Code, The Descendants, The Muppets, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Guard, The Ides of March, Super 8

Worst: Cowboys & Aliens- This epically dull sci-fi blockbuster included an alien spaceship that resembled Squidward’s house. That is all.


Most Overrated: A Dangerous Method, Drive, Moneyball

Most Disappointing: The Rum Diary, Your Highness, 30 Minutes or Less

Still Need to See: Melancholia, A Seperation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Shame, Like Crazy, Take Shelter

All movie title card images were found on this awesome website.

Movie Review: The Artist

Leave a reply

Who would have thought that a modern black and white silent film could be funnier and more entertaining than most films made with sound and color nowadays? Sound might have been improved film, but “The Artist” proves that a step back into silence every once in a while isn’t such a bad thing.

For anyone resistant to seeing a silent film, “The Artist” is only partly one. It incorporates the orchestra that would usually play live alongside a silent film as well as a few incredibly clever sound tricks. “The Artist” is an “I’m big, it’s the pictures that got small” story about silent star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), with a last name evoking Rudolph Valentino and a mustache and toothy grin evoking Clark Gable. In 1927, Valentin’s Hollywood career is soaring. He stars mainly in action and romantic pictures which usually boast names such as “A Russian Affair” and “A Chinese Affair.” His dog, who is always on his side in both movies and in life, probably plays dead better than most dogs.

Movies are all about those little coincidences that, like a butterfly effect, later have a huge impact. After leaving one of his premieres, Valentin bumps into a fan (Berence Bejo) with a made-for-Hollywood name: Peppy Miller. Her name, and pictures of the glance that the two exchange, is all over the tabloids the next day. In order to get closer to George, Peppy auditions to be a dancer in his next movie. As she gets her start, George teaches Peppy the most important rule in being a successful actor: look distinct.

Around the same time that Peppy becomes a household name, the cigar wielding studio head (John Goodman, perfect for the role) decides that silent movies are out, and talkies are in. George wants absolutely no part in the talkies, and he pays the price for his arrogance. The inside of the studio is shown in one scene as a never-ending staircase in which people constantly walk up, but rarely down, like the Hollywood machine that mass produces movies and stars. Valentin becomes just another piece of unnecessary inventory.

“The Artist” is both a satire of the way movies are made and a movie with the broadest of plots and characters. Archetypes are usually unacceptable to me but here, they are just so lovingly that they actually work. As a movie star, George Valentin has no singular appeal, as he can play both a swashbuckling action hero and a dazzling romantic. These roles only seem to suit him in silent movies, and his fear of speaking makes his attempted comeback all the more difficult.

When the new form of motion picture medium first developed, the early filmmakers were like magicians constantly trying to play tricks on audiences. “The Artist” revives that spirit of visual trickery that is so often missing from today’s movies. Some see 3D as a new form of this. What “The Artist” shows is that the image of a woman putting her arm through a man’s jacket and moving it around can give off the appearance that it is actually someone else’s arm. That didn’t even require a pair of 3D glasses.

“The Artist” plays many more tricks with sound, both silent and audible. With one very subtle yet shocking clank, sound is brought to a silent world. A title card that reads “Why won’t you talk?” could be considered hilarious despite the dramatic nature of the scene that it is placed in. Another card that appears at the movie’s most thrilling moment, which I will not spoil here, will leave you relieved and stunned. You’ll be relieved at what it really means, and stunned as to how easy it is to play with words.

Watching a silent movie is a totally different viewing experience. A silent movie will make even the most casual viewer pay more attention, as actions and gestures are the only things guiding the way. Audiences in the 1920s must have been some of the most engaged moviegoers there were. By bringing together silence and sound, “The Artist” ties the past and present together. Silence might enhance viewing in several ways but in a way, movies were never meant to be silent. After all, every silent movie was accompanied by a live orchestra. A moving image can only go so far.

“The Artist” also uses the silence as a sense of humor. The cue cards, perfect in their font, display dialogue that is both hilarious and thoughtful, and not just plot focused. Writer-director Michel Hazanavicius makes the style fit into every ounce of the overall theme.

Anyone can make a silent movie. The true achievement of “The Artist” is how it gives this old technology a raison d’etre. Some characters were just meant to be seen as silent. Looking past the silent element of “The Artist” is a movie that is funny and entertaining in the most timeless sense possible. The mark of most great movies is that you never want them to end. “The Artist” may be one of the year’s best movies, but its biggest problem is that it begins to lag on in its third act. The darkest portion of the film begins to feel contrived and repetitive after a while, basically bringing down everything the movie had so beautifully built up.


But then, “The Artist” miraculously saves itself in its closing minutes with a few final lines that basically define the entire movie: clever, but not at all snarky. Just as seen in “The Artist,” the Hollywood studio machine churns out an uncountable amount of movies every year. Few rarely stick. Every once in a while, a movie like “The Artist” comes along in which you wish the characters would dance off the screen and into your own lives. Maybe it helps when that machine is French. 


If you liked this movie, you’ll also like: Singin’ in the Rain, Sunset Boulevard, Barton Fink, Modern Times, Citizen Kane, Hugo, Midnight in Paris