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| ARTIST, THE (2011)
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SBD Star Rating:
by Chiara Adorno
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The Artist has won positive reviews and praise from critics as a satisfying and joyous film about the magic of silent cinema. The film spans five years, from 1927 through 1932, a great time of upheaval for the film industry. The first talkies arrived in October of 1927 and so, while in 1929 all Best Picture nominated films were silent ones, in 1930 four out of the five were talkies. We follow the career trajectories of a leading male star of the Valentino variety, who experiences a serious downward spiral, while one of the extras in his films, a soon-to-be starlet, experiences a meteoric rise and becomes America's sweetheart. James Berardinelli Reelviews observes, "... what makes The Artist so much more than a version of A Star Is Born, is how it is presented. And the movie is special not just because it's silent, but because of the effort invested to give it a genuine 1920s look and feel, and because so much love is evident in the final product. It was made by people with an understanding of film history and an appreciation for what it would take to honor two eras - the late-silent/early talky one and the early 21st century one - in a single movie." Colin Covert Star Tribune called it, ".... a rocket to the moon fueled by unadulterated joy and pure imagination.... Director Michel Hazanavicius has a control over the medium that is hypnotic. He shot the film in the squarish screen ratio of the era, and he works every simple, elegant image with dazzling craftsmanship." Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer comments,"Strangely, wonderfully, The Artist feels as bold and innovative a moviegoing experience as James Cameron's bells-and-whistles Avatar did a couple of years ago. Retro becomes nuevo. Quaint becomes cool.... Hazanavicius and his cast have writ a love letter to a bygone day, to bygone ways. And in doing so, they've reminded us why we love the movies, and why they matter." |
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