Retro Rubbish

Rating: 5/10 (15 February 2012)

Somewhere in this unreasonable facsimile of and on silent filmmaking a clip of Doug Fairbanks as Zorro appears for under 30 seconds. For the the rest of the film I lamented the fact I wasn't watching it instead of this pale imitation of an homage to a mix and match variety of silent fact and folklore. This corny clunker proves beyond doubt there ain't nothing like the real thing.
George Valintin is one of silent films great leading men (Fairbanks) that mocks the advent of sound before soon coming victim (Novarro, Gilbert) to it. As his star falls ( Norman Maine) a dancer (Vickie Lester) he once befriended and met in comical fashion riding a shooting one takes him in. His pride gets the best of him however and he begins to self destruct. Throughout it all his noble dog sticks to his side.
The Artist is to be commended for its attempt to give later generations a look at what it was like to see silents the way they were meant to be. But after two visually impressive opening scenes the compositions become mundane, the montage slow the prosaic storyline banal scraps of classics including sound work from Welles, Lean, Chaplin and Berkeley. When the film itself stubbornly hangs on to its' silent stance even after the advent of sound it literally stalls and stunts itself, and the idea becomes self defeating.
I'll do the cast a favor and mention no one beyond a charming Jean Dujardin for no one merits it save the adorable dog who doesn't need much to steal scenes from these ensemble dullard humans who offer little more than waxen posturing. They broadly parody the "ancient" style of film acting but lack the faces and the nuance of the originals. Director Michel Havavicius simply turns off the sound shoots his film in black and white and shoots a cliché ridden Singin' in the Rain / A Star is Born hybrid and from the looks of it wondered if he'd researched any silents at all.
For the uninitiated to the silent era and the masterpieces from it The Artist might be an exotic sea change from the impersonal computer generated 3 D world of cinema today but if one truly wants to see it done in all its antiquated magnificence then seek out theatre screenings of Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Gish, Lon Chaney, Vidor and Griffith. The Artist is simply a slick repro with nothing under the hood.