The sound of silence

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2012)

By now, virtually the eve of Oscar, the movie audience market has generally taken in the impact of having this challenging production thrown at them. People are no longer asking why a silent movie, not only thrown into the market, but collecting award after award before you can blink twice, including major ones from prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Golden Globe and BAFTA. It's no longer a question of whether a silent movie can win an Oscar in 2012, but how many, out of its staggering 10 nominations.
The smart thing about "The artist" is that it is a silent movie about the ending of era of silent movies. With this clever premise, the film is almost guaranteed success, so long as the quarterback does not fumble, so to speak. And fumbling is what director Michel Hazanavicius cannot be any further away from. Just look at how brilliantly he handles the sequence that portrayed the inner world of the protagonist who stubbornly resists the threatening onslaught if "talkies". There are several layers. This is just a normal day in the studio and although WE the audience are supposed to be watching a movie with no sound (except for background music, which in the authentic case is provided by a live orchestra), HE the silent movie star hears normally. And yet, what we are shown is his experience an inner world of silent movies that does not have any sound, until the silence is broken by random sounds (a pencil dropping, for example) that WE the audience now also here! It becomes somewhat surreal to see the panic on his face as he finds that he can (and so we can) hear a group of approaching people chattering and laughing. Think about it. This brilliant montage of multi-layering is about as clever as a director can get.
But other than not having any audible dialogue (you can sometime lip-read and there are occasional, tastefully minimized, use of intertitles) this film mesmerizes you like any other good film does, with engaging story, skillful narrative and superb acting. The plot line is delightfully simple yet genuinely affecting. It tells the story of the downfall of a superstar when he refuses to ride with the tide of time to allow the audience hear him on screen ("all they need is to see my face"). A young woman who receives his generous encouragement and help ironically becomes his curse, as her immense success in the new era of talking movies hastened the demise of his silent era. And yet, the two have such a depth of feeling for each other that their destinies are entwined.
This movie is also familiar in terms of various artistic styles used, some paying tribute to iconic movies, such as the famous "Citizen Kane" (1941) breakfast scene, and some just naturally. One scene I find particularly interesting is the two protagonist casually exchanging dance steps, which reminds me of the duelling banjos (actually a banjo and a guitar) scene in "Deliverance" (1972). While the media of the art shared are different, they are about two kindred spirits who happen to stumble across a mutual language of art. In "The artist", this scene also underscores a very important plot element at the end of the movie.
In three days' time, I'll be watching, live, to see how well this film does in Oscar. A very interesting thing is that while the leads Jean Dujardine and Berenice Bejo are French (Bejo actually from Argentina but relocated at 3), the language of this silent movie (yes!) is English, as explained by IMDb "English (intertitles) English (a few words)". In addition to the nominated pair (lead and support), this film boast of two of the best known and best loved character actors today – John Goodman and James Cromwell.