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J. Christian Cauthen

Expect the unexpected as you pay for your ticket to see The Artist (2011).

Contrary to most films today, it’s a silent film set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Because of short MTV-attention-spans today, most teenagers and young adults wouldn’t have the patience to sit through an early Charlie Chaplin film without texting or making fun of it. The Artist is certainly not a bore and quite hard to poke fun at.

The story revolves around a famous late 20’s silent movie star, George Valentin, who is about to be reduced to nothing because of the rise of “talkies.” At the end of his career he strikes a match with Peppy Miller, a young dancer who is about to attain her first big break. I don’t want to spoil the plot so I won’t say much more, but I must say that the story is brilliantly scripted and paces smoothly. There are some twists within the film itself that will most likely surprise even the harshest of critics. The lighting in the film is elaborate yet minimalistic. When I exited the theater, I left in almost a shell-shocked state.

The first thing that I noticed was the aspect ratio. The Artist was filmed entirely in a 1:33 boxy aspect ratio and shot at 22 frames per second as opposed to 1:85:1 or 2:39:1 with 24-30 frames per second. The credits appeared and I almost thought I was in the wrong theater. The credits were rendered so well that I, for a moment, thought I was watching early Chaplin. The film’s musical score is fantastic. It covers all of the clichéd early exotica scores found in silent films.

This is not director Hazanavicius’s first feature to homage to early films. He also directed a film with a sequel: OSS 117, starring the actor of George Valentin, Jean Dujardin, in which he plays a James Bond stereotype set in France, hence the OSS title. Once again it was filmed with the same aspect ratios and technicality that make the 60’s Bond films stand out with hints of comedy, color, and class.

I recommend The Artist to anyone that enjoys kind-hearted romances, silent films, or even a modest comedy. There are no explosions, no elaborate sets, and certainly no CG scenes. And instead of those obnoxious elements, it emits heart, technicality, and style.

My rating: 4/5

http://www.robinsonfilmcenter.org/now-playing/31-now-playing-header/925-the-artist