Best of 2011: #10 (tie) The Artist

I'll get this out of the way quickly.  The Artist is a silent film.  It has virtually no audible dialogue and, for 99 percent of the film, the only thing you hear is music.  It's also entirely in black and white.

I think a good chunk people will lose interest right there.




I'm not pointing this out to be snobby -- Oooh...I like silent films, unlike you other Philistines! -- only making an observation that a lot of people won't want to give this movie a chance.  That's unfortunate, because there wasn't a more charming and accessible movie released in 2011.  It's currently the front-runner for the Best Picture Oscar, which rarely goes to anything but sentimental crowd-pleasers.

The film stars Jean Dujuardin, a veteran French actor that I was, and I suppose still am, completely unfamiliar with.  He plays George Valentin, a world-renowned (and fictional) movie star in the late 1920s who is cast aside by the industry when sound is introduced into the medium.

Early in the film, Valentin is instrumental in starting the career of Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), a spunky aspiring dancer who, after Valentin intervenes to keep her in one of his movies and gives her some career advice, becomes the biggest movie star in the early era of talking movies.  Later, when Valentin is unable to use his star power to prevent Hollywood from rushing into a sound-enriched new status quo, he loses everything.  His friendship with Peppy -- which hints constantly at the possibility of romance, but never gets that far -- becomes more consequential.

I don't need to say much more about the plot of the film. You get the idea.  Now I need to go back and try to convince you to see a silent movie.

More than anything, I think The Artist is a tribute to the cinema itself.  Obviously, it is an homage to a bygone era, when the lack of technology that seems so basic today required filmmakers to work harder.  The amazing thing is that so many of the movies made in that era were able to effectively depict stories and convey characters thoughts and motivations without any audible words, using only the occasional caption to pass along more complex dialog at key moments.  Actors had utilize more tools, more action and expression, to get their points across.  And, despite what much of today's audience might think, they were often successful.

I'm not saying that silent films are better than talkies, only that, in many cases, they're much more impressive.

So, yes, the first thing you'll notice when you see The Artist is that it's silent, once again, apart from the music.  But, the second thing you'll notice is that you never have any trouble discerning what is going on or what the characters are thinking, thanks to the direction and performances.

Dujuardin is fantastic in the leading role.  Once again, I haven't seen him in anything else, but I'd be very interested to see what he'd be able to do with an audible voice. I'd imagine that subtlety isn't really his thing -- he seems kind of like a French Jim Carrey.  By that, I mean he's animated, not that he makes his butt cheeks talk.

The director's name is Michel Hazanavicius, who, like Dujuardin, has done very little outside of French cinema and TV. But, don't let the French-ness of the principals fool you, this is an ode to Hollywood...American Hollywood. It includes a number of recognizable Hollywood actors in supporting roles, including John Goodman, James Cromwell, and Malcolm McDowell.

The Artist is just a fantastic film.  I'd call it a breath of fresh air if that didn't sound so lame and cheesy.  I'd recommend it to virtually anyone.