The Artist

[Red Diabla]

My main quibble with the film was the mistake on my part going to see it on a holiday. I had the misfortune of a young couple sitting in the row in front of me who would not stop whispering to each other conspicuously during the entire film. They also couldn't tear themselves away from their cell phone text messages. I ended up shushing them in the last ten minutes of the film because I just couldn't stand it anymore(and it kept me from doing something really stupid like kicking the back of their seats...hard!). The jerk boyfriend dared to shush me back. Luckily it ended there, but it really ruined an otherwise fantastic movie-watching experience!

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Still waiting in Louisville for the movie to show.

 

[PHIL1959]

Cant wait to see it.Thanks for posting the trailer.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Cant wait to see it.Thanks for posting the trailer.

The good news is that this movie is a lot better than the trailer!

 

[Connery]

^^^
This feels like more an "event" than a movie. I hope I am not anticipating too much.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

^^^
This feels like more an "event" than a movie. I hope I am not anticipating too much.

Take it as a whole package. The storyline ain't brilliant ... but it's clever, poignant, at times even lyrical, and always relevant to the overarching theme: silent film, what it was and what became of it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It looks like we'll probably get it here in February -- if it lives up to the hype, it'll be this year's "Kings Speech" at the box office. People are asking when they can get tickets, and we haven't even officially booked it yet.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I don't think it will do that kind of business... unless it wins a few Oscars, and maybe not even then. I saw it at a 4pm show on New Years Day, with only two theaters in (densely populated, highly educated) Westchester showing it, and there were maybe 20 people in the audience.

And as Marc says (and I indicated in my own comments), the film isn't brilliant or deep. There's no theme/message or agenda, other than showing that a silent b/w film is still a perfectly serviceable form of storytelling, one with particular pleasures that modern filmgoers may not know or recall.

It's wonderful fun - I was prepared to tear it to pieces, but literally hurt my cheeks from smiling so broadly through the entire thing - but it doesn't add up to much... Essentially, it's a case where the medium really is the message.

 

[LizzieMaine]

As long as it puts butts in seats it's OK by me. We've got a median age here of about 50, and that crowd wants good stories, not social comment. And if it gives an excuse to book a few genuine silents down the line to keep up the interest, so much the better.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I don't think it will do that kind of business... unless it wins a few Oscars, and maybe not even then. I saw it at a 4pm show on New Years Day, with only two theaters in (densely populated, highly educated) Westchester showing it, and there were maybe 20 people in the audience.

And as Marc says (and I indicated in my own comments), the film isn't brilliant or deep. There's no theme/message or agenda, other than showing that a silent b/w film is still a perfectly serviceable form of storytelling, one with particular pleasures that modern filmgoers may not know or recall.

It's wonderful fun - I was prepared to tear it to pieces, but literally hurt my cheeks from smiling so broadly through the entire thing - but it doesn't add up to much... Essentially, it's a case where the medium really is the message.

What Doctor Strange said. It's a finely-crafted, lovingly-crafted, audience-friendly gateway to the medium.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And if it gives an excuse to book a few genuine silents down the line to keep up the interest, so much the better.

It could! "Show People", with Marion Davies and Billy Haines, would be a great follow-up.

 

[Doc Smith]

My wife and I saw it at Ann Arbor's beautifully-restored 1920s movie palace, the Michigan Theater. We spent our post-movie dinner enthusing at each other about the clothing, the architectural details, the homages to classic movie tropes, the cinematographer's tricks that made different scenes look like they were shot with film stock or lens effects common to the era, and so on. Highly recommended, even if you don't get a theater organ concert before the show.

 

[Doctor Strange]

In my comments on The Artist earlier in this thread, I pointed out that (for me) the use of Bernard Herrmann's memorable score from Vertigo at the climax of the film was a problem, as I'm so familiar with this music that it pulled me out of the story. Even though it was intended as an homage, it seemed to me a ripoff, and I didn't understand why the composer of the film's excellent original score didn't score this sequence too. (The Vertigo music wasn't even newly recorded along with the rest of the film's score, it was a 1992 recording conducted by Elmer Bernstein.)

Apparently, I'm not the only one who was bothered by this. None other than Kim Novak herself(!) is on the warpath:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/01/...artist-director-michel-hazanavicius-responds/

 

[Feraud]

Novak sounds off her rocker.. seriously, reporting a rape?

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yeah, she's definitely overdoing it!

 

[LizzieMaine]

She needs to fire her publicist, or whatever halfwit came up with that idea.

It was very common for silent film scores to incorporate quotes from previously-published works -- far more common, in fact, than scores written to be entirely original. Even though Herrmann is hardly a composer who belongs in a work meant to evoke the twenties, there's nothing unprecedented or outlandish about using this bit of music in this context.

 

[Graemsay]

I saw The Artist today, and enjoyed the film.

It's beautifully crafted, and I'd love some of the suits. But Uggie the Dog steals the show to the extent that he got a feature on the BBC News website!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16467852

 

[herringbonekid]

i saw this film yesterday and i have to admit that throughout i was thinking 'this would work better with sound', which goes against the whole premise obviously, but i didn't feel that the lack of dialogue contributed anything other than it being an exercise in 'silent' film style. however, i didn't even think the acting looked 'silent' style enough for it to quite work as that. to me it looked like an early 30s film homage (such as 'It Happened One Night' or 'Gold-diggers of 1933') with the dialogue turned off, which made some sections feel very slow. the story is stock stuff and the characters cartoonish (archetypal if i'm being generous). i also think the use of the Vertigo music was a pointless and distracting decision.

having said all that, i thought the period settings looked great and the costumes, particularly on the extras were well done. there were a few clever and funny visual gags (i wish there had been more)... my favourites involving the same jacket; her arm in the jacket, and his reflection in the pawn shop window.

 

[herringbonekid]

Ever seen "Treasure Island" (1999)? A B & W film written and directed by Scott King, a wealthy eccentric whose house featured custom-made wallpaper with NRA (National Recovery Administration) logos all over it, and a pneumatic tube system so that he could send documents from the first to the second floor.

i bought this film on DVD a few years ago Marc, after you recommended it and i'm glad i did. i feel that a note of caution should accompany it however as it might not be quite what vintage-film fans are expecting. it is strictly 'arthouse' and has some rather uncomfortable sexual scenarios and an overall anxiety-dream atmosphere which fans of David Lynch (like me) will appreciate but others will definitely not.

 

[LocktownDog]

Walk Outs and Refunds

Oh dear ... idiocy has raised its bumbling head again.