Heartless , soulless , dull and boring  Disappointment

Rating: 2/10 (15 June 2013)

I love movies of Charlie Chaplin , Buster Keaton , Harold Lloyd . I love "Metropolis" , "Pandora Box" , "Gabinet of doctor Caligari " and so on I'm not saying that I'm an expert in silent era movies , but I 've seen enough of them to recognize a good one.
"The Artist" is first silent movie made in many years. It was supposed to be a great tribute to silent era and something more sophisticated than most of modern movies. Unfortunately , in my opinion this is only a gimmick . This is a trick . A movie aimed to win Oscars without any real importance or artistic quality.
From technical point of view the movie deserves his awards – it looks like it was made back in 1920's . The cinematography , the art direction, costumes , film editing - they all are top notch. There are two great scenes involving sound (one in the middle of the movie , one at the end) . The music is good too , not great , but good. The acting is decent and that's it . I don't see anything special in performances of Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin . Oh , and the dog is lovely.
The biggest problem is with the screenplay and direction. The movie pretends that it says something important about cinema and actors , but good old "Singing in the rain" did it MUCH BETTER. Also the movie is completely soulless and heartless . The movies of silent era maybe weren't complex , but they certainly had heart and soul . They had a childlike sensibility that could make you laugh and cry. "The Artist" by comparison feels like a plastic. It has no charm , no humor (maybe with the exception of dog – he gave the best performance in the whole movie) . The story feels lifeless . It moves slowly , too slowly and quickly becomes boring . The directing is so awful you could wonder if anyone was directing this movie at all. Emotions ? None . Substance ? None.
I don't think that Michel Hazanavicius REALLY UNDERSTOOD what those old movies were about . "The Artist" feels like a cheap trick to impress the audience. Better watch one of those movies I've mentioned in the beginning of this review or any other TRUE silent era movie . Not some empty copy. This is movie about nothing . This movie is nothing.
I give it 3/10.