good classic film making

Rating: 7/10 (9 December 2011)

I was a little bit timid going in to The Artist, fearing that a PG rated hundred minute silent movie might be soapy and sentimental. I was very impressed to find that this is not the case. The Artist is a film about simple relationships, and that's its strength, simplicity. We begin in the year 1927. George Valentin; a charismatic silent movie star is very fond of the new member of his latest cast, Peppy Miller. She is very fond of him too, but they go separate ways with the arrival of talking pictures. George refuses to take part in such pictures, while Peppy embraces it and goes on to become a super star, leaving George in the shadows. But does this mean she has forgotten him?
I think what keeps the movie from being cartoony is that The Artist could have easily been played as a romance, but it chooses not to. George and Peppy are presented as friends not lovers. The movies that are featured within the movie have all the soap and sentiment, but this one is played serious. It does have it's effective moments of comedy though. The best the Artist, even as a silent movie, never feels overdone.
Most of the time, The Artist is actually a rather sad movie. A good portion of it is focused on George's low point in life, spent brooding, low on cash, and unable to make a successful film. The two leads carry the film, beautifully. Director Michael Hazanavicious trusts his actors completely. He chooses to let the camera linger on their faces rather than break up the scenes with to many caption cards. In fact there is more dialogue spoken and inaudible in the Artist than there is captioned dialogue. The plot is presented accessible to a fairly general audience while still being a maturity of subject matter; also quite impressive.
The Artist is shot and assembled very well, and looks like something that was made eighty years ago. One item worth noting is of course how early movies have far more static frames than moving ones, as stedicams and shoulder camera-work would not be in vogue il the mid- late twentieth century. Even for a mostly static picture, there are some great shots and angles. I particularly enjoyed a dutch angle (diagonal) shot of George at a table which is so polished that you can't telling with is the man and which is the reflection until he spills his drink.
The ending came a little bit more abruptly than I thought. for a film with such a long middle section I would've liked to an extra five to ten minutes. the hundred minutes that made up the Artist are a delightful throwback, with room for laughs and tears. It's a film with heart and soul, and even if imperfect is one of the most disticive films of the year.