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The Artist
Title: The Artist
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Writer: Michel Hazanavicius
Music by: Ludovic Bource
Cinematography: Guillaume Schiffman
Producer: Thomas Langmann
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Studio: La Petite Reine
Location: Los Angeles, CA
In Theaters: January 20th, 2012
Running Time: 100 minutes
Color: Black and White
Language: Silent
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Uggie, John Goodman, etc.
Genre(s): comedy/romance/drama
Storyline: (IMDb.com) Outside a movie premiere, enthusiastic fan Peppy Miller literally bumps into the swashbuckling hero of the silent film, George Valentin. The star reacts graciously and Peppy plants a kiss on his cheek as they are surrounded by photographers. The headlines demand: “Who’s That Girl?” and Peppy is inspired to audition for a dancing bit-part at the studio. However as Peppy slowly rises through the industry, the introduction of talking-pictures turns Valentin’s world upside-down. Written by L. Hamre
Movie Trailer:
My Review: This movie is unlike any other filmed since the roaring 20s. When silent films was on its way out and “talkies” were in. I’m aware of this time period because I’ve seen my share of silent films and Singing in the Rain as well. If you haven’t seen that movie I highly recommend it to all for a lot of reasons. But if you are looking for a movie that pays homage to the classic black and white cinema, filmed in the older 4:3 aspect ratio (meaning it’s a box instead of a rectangle/CinemaScope) then you’ve come to the right place.
Just keep in mind that about 99.99% of the movie is, in deed silent. Except for a brief moment when George Valentin, played by Jean Dujardin, is having a nightmare where things around him are producing sound, like a glass being placed on a table, but he is unable to speak. Why the nightmare? The head of the studio he works for explains they are stopping production on silent films and working primarily on talkies.
This movie, despite it’s dialogue, depended upon the expressions an actor can convey. Something many actors of today have lost the ability to do because they rely too heavily on technology to fix any mistakes or tell the story they were unable to do themselves. Silent movies shows a certain vulnerability you cannot get from the best technology, production company, director, or actors of the 21st century.
The score for the entire movie was flawless and was such a part of the emotion of the movie you almost forget it’s there. It’s so complimentary. And the story-line takes a more serious tone than I had anticipated it to take. Add sound and dialogue to this story line and you’d get any ordinary movie of a man on the edge after he’s been told his career is over. Take away sound and words and what you see on the screen is poetry in motion. Although I’ve seen this story and heard it first hand so many times before it was like experiencing it on such a deeper level. We (those in the theater) laughed, I know I cried and I’m sure others did, and when it was all over we clapped.
It ends, I must say (don’t read on if you don’t want a spoiler!!), with sound and words! After George loses everything (his wife, his career, his best friend) he gains it all back ten-fold when he lets go of his pride which was holding him back from moving forward with the times. He falls in love, get the girl who fell in love with him as well, and she brings him back together with his best friend as well as gets him started on a new career. He fears the audience who once loved him as a silent film actor who made his career by “mugging it” as Peppy Miller (his young love) says at one point in the movie, will not want to hear his voice. She comes up with the brilliant idea for a movie to be made around both of them tap dancing, which the head of the studio Al Zimmer (John Goodman) thinks is amazing. Thus a musical starring Peppy Miller and George Valentin is born. When they are done doing a tap dancing routine that reminds me of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (but only for a while), what’s to be expected is heavy panting from all the energy exerted on their dance. And heavy panting is what we hear. The audience (myself included) gasp we are so shocked to hear this sound! Can you blame us? We just went an entire hour and thirty-five minutes without any sound beyond his nightmare scene where young girls are laughing annoyingly and a strange choice of background music, Penny’s From Heaven (words included). After they are done breathing heavily, Al takes a deep breath of satisfaction and speaks these words: “Cut! Perfect. Beautiful. Could you give me one more?” Valentin, in his only audible line, replies “With pleasure”, in a strong French accent. I think Al hit the nail right on the head, this movie is perfect and beautiful!
My Rating: A-
Will you…Run And Tell That?
Growing GLEEfully
glee – exultant high-spirited joy: merriment
If you’ve never seen the highly talked about show on Fox called Glee you’ve definitely been missing it. By far this show has grown by leaps and bounds since it started almost 2 years ago to the date (May 19, 2009). When it started out it was a little campy. It almost seemed like it was trying to snatch up those who were fans of the High School Musical movies. Granted the music wasn’t original the first season but wow were there voices unbelievable. I think the reason they had such a large cult following during season one was a combination of popular song choices and amazing voices. Let’s face it, the story lines were a bit lack luster and the characters were not well defined. Season one will leave much to be desired in the content aspect of a television show but some sort of magic happened since that season.
Whatever changes the producers may have made with the writers and directors, the collaboration shows through the tremendous change in the development of each characters story. I think the storyline I find the most awe inspiring and portrayed to perfection is Santana (Naya Rivera). But I am getting ahead of myself. First let me start at the beginning. The story line was up to par with any teenage Disney series, only it was on Fox. The storylines were flat and pretty far fetched. Seeing as there really seemed to be no connection. This was probably due to the lack of witty and meaningful dialogue. Finn believing he could get his girlfriend at the time pregnant by simply “getting off” in a hot tub with her just wasn’t believable. The only thing keeping viewers tuned in was the Cheerios cheerleaders who are supposed to “infiltrate” the Glee club at Coach Sue’s command: Santana and Brittany. The latter being the airhead who always said the dumbest thing. Her quotes could instantly be found on fans status updates on FB.
But the growth by both of those girls as characters in the show is really something to see to believe. Although Brittany still has her moments of pure idiocy, every once in a while her intelligence shines through. She knows who she is and she’s not willing to change that to please others. That is a confidence everyone should have. Which is strange because Santana, who outwardly is feared by many as being the bitch of the school, happens to be gay and in love with Brittany but is scared to be herself and “come out.” Their friendship and now conflicts of opinions is great to watch and to relate to. Among all the issues going on with teenagers today I believe that is the one many will watch and understand and be helped by in their own lives. It’s also the most emotional along side one other story line that is just as heartfelt and brilliantly written. I am referring to the relationship between Kurt and his father.
By far the best episode of season two is titled “Sexy” and there are two excellent reasons why:
1. The scene between Santana and Brittany.
2. The scene between Kurt and his father.
I won’t ruin it but I will say both made me cry with the greatest emotions. They were, for me, the best and most telling moments of how far the show has come in terms of character development. And based on episodes after that one I see they can’t only get better with time.
The fact that they are able to combine real life issues with music and express themselves through music can speak to anyone of any age. It also educates its viewers on music as well that you might never consider listening to. I’ve discovered so many artists watching this show. Just giving my props to a show very much deserving of it. Check it out and find out why everyone can’t stop talking about it!
Run and tell that!
Growing GLEEfully
glee – exultant high-spirited joy: merriment
If you’ve never seen the highly talked about show on Fox called Glee you’ve definitely been missing it. By far this show has grown by leaps and bounds since it started almost 2 years ago to the date (May 19, 2009). When it started out it was a little campy. It almost seemed like it was trying to snatch up those who were fans of the High School Musical movies. Granted the music wasn’t original the first season but wow were there voices unbelievable. I think the reason they had such a large cult following during season one was a combination of popular song choices and amazing voices. Let’s face it, the story lines were a bit lack luster and the characters were not well defined. Season one will leave much to be desired in the content aspect of a television show but some sort of magic happened since that season.
Whatever changes the producers may have made with the writers and directors, the collaboration shows through the tremendous change in the development of each characters story. I think the storyline I find the most awe inspiring and portrayed to perfection is Santana (Naya Rivera). But I am getting ahead of myself. First let me start at the beginning. The story line was up to par with any teenage Disney series, only it was on Fox. The storylines were flat and pretty far fetched. Seeing as there really seemed to be no connection. This was probably due to the lack of witty and meaningful dialogue. Finn believing he could get his girlfriend at the time pregnant by simply “getting off” in a hot tub with her just wasn’t believable. The only thing keeping viewers tuned in was the Cheerios cheerleaders who are supposed to “infiltrate” the Glee club at Coach Sue’s command: Santana and Brittany. The latter being the airhead who always said the dumbest thing. Her quotes could instantly be found on fans status updates on FB.
But the growth by both of those girls as characters in the show is really something to see to believe. Although Brittany still has her moments of pure idiocy, every once in a while her intelligence shines through. She knows who she is and she’s not willing to change that to please others. That is a confidence everyone should have. Which is strange because Santana, who outwardly is feared by many as being the bitch of the school, happens to be gay and in love with Brittany but is scared to be herself and “come out.” Their friendship and now conflicts of opinions is great to watch and to relate to. Among all the issues going on with teenagers today I believe that is the one many will watch and understand and be helped by in their own lives. It’s also the most emotional along side one other story line that is just as heartfelt and brilliantly written. I am referring to the relationship between Kurt and his father.
By far the best episode of season two is titled “Sexy” and there are two excellent reasons why:
1. The scene between Santana and Brittany.
2. The scene between Kurt and his father.
I won’t ruin it but I will say both made me cry with the greatest emotions. They were, for me, the best and most telling moments of how far the show has come in terms of character development. And based on episodes after that one I see they can’t only get better with time.
The fact that they are able to combine real life issues with music and express themselves through music can speak to anyone of any age. It also educates its viewers on music as well that you might never consider listening to. I’ve discovered so many artists watching this show. Just giving my props to a show very much deserving of it. Check it out and find out why everyone can’t stop talking about it!
Run and tell that!
