Delightful

Rating: 9/10 (3 May 2014)

I'm a big fan of movies I would describe as realist, and liked many of the films made under the Dogme95 manifesto (which was all about not using certain artificial techniques). And when I look at old movies, it often strikes me how clumsy and un-natural they feel. Yet stick a camera in front of real life and its unlikely that the edited footage would ever be worth watching. All film-making is art and artifice; they may be different (technology- or self-imposed constraints), and a different impact desired, but the film that appears realistic is just one possible style. Viewed in this light, new technology makes new styles possible; but can also lead to the abandonment of art-forms that had their own validity and purpose in favour of the shock of the new. And 'The Artist' proves this: a modern day film, made in the style of a black-and-white, silent movie that manages to be funny and emotionally affecting in spite of the director's deliberate choice to ignore the advances that (mostly) mean that films like this one simply aren't made anymore.
Self-referentially, the film takes the end of the silent movie era as its own subject; of course, this is not an unknown theme in Hollywood (think 'Sunset Boulevard', for example, although the back-story in that film is the primary narrative in this one). It's clever, but not just in a show-off way; what's noticeable is the attention paid to the smallest of details (for example, in the fonts in the movie posters on display); of course, there are talkies where the director has clearly worried over every visual detail, but in this film, it's obviously essential, and they can be enjoyed without competition. Director Michel Hazanavicius and male lead Jean Dujardin appear to have a great understanding of the positive qualities of silent movies (aside from the absence of sound). This isn't the deepest movie you'll ever see, but it's one of the most delightful. And when Berenice Bojo smiles her flapper smile, I challenge anyone not to feel a ripple in their hearts.