Next week, Hollywood’s A-listers will walk down the red carpet to celebrate an evening of great film. With this year’s best picture category featuring 10 nominations, I tasked myself with watching as many of the films as possible—for research purposes, of course. Last week, I sat down to watch one of this year’s most interesting nominees, The Artist.

The movie takes place in Hollywood between the years 1927 and 1932 and tells the tale of the relationship between a silent film star and a rising young actress as silent movies fall out of fashion and are replaced by talkies. The film has no dialogue, but is accompanied by a great soundtrack that helps carry the audience from scene to scene and helps to explain the plot line.

Admittedly, when I sat down to watch the two-hour picture, I was a little concerned that the lack of dialogue would have me lose interest or not follow the story. I soon realized that the story came through nicely by way of the actors’ facial expressions, gestures and few lines of text. The constantly changing pace and tone of the score also added interest to the film, while the likability of the characters made me want to find out how it all ended. Despite the movie’s lack of colour, the beautiful costuming was another aspect of the film that kept me intrigued. Flashy flapper dresses and tuxedos complete with tails, all in crisp contrasts of black and white, seemed to make every outfit sparkle.

Simple and sweet, The Artist gives us a glimpse of old Hollywood. In a film industry that has seen tremendous innovations in sound effects and editing, creating a silent film for today’s modern audience was a risky move. If The Artist were to win the best picture category, I believe it is the film’s charm and uniqueness that will do it for Michel Hazanavicious. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it; if only so you can say you’ve had the experience of watching a silent film.

Have you seen The Artist? I'd love to hear what you thought of it. Tell me by posting a comment below.

 

by Tanya Colledge
Stimuli Magazine Contributor
Twitter: @tanyafanya
email: tanya@stimulimag.ca