The Silent Majority?

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:16

Written by Editor

Over the past few weeks the movie on every- body’s award list is “The Artist”, it seems to be a winner with critics across the globe – so, now it’s my turn. In this day and age, who in their right mind would decide to make a silent movie? The answer is, the French. I’ve always thought that an actor is only as good as the script, for example Robert Deniro, try to have a conversation with him without a script and what have you got – nothing.  This is one of the reasons why Hollywood could never pull off a movie like “The Artist”, because Hollywood actors in general can’t act without a script.

Let’s get started. I like this movie, it’s different. Jean Dujardin had that period look, his performance was brilliant and Uggie the dog was an absolute scene stealer. There was a short scene that I found slightly Lynch inspired (it’s the nightmare bit – you’ll know it when you see it). The story is George Valentin (Dujardin) and his dog are the best silent actors in the business and Pepper Miller wants to be an actress. Pepper gets on set as an extra and meets George, he gives her a trademark and they go their separate ways. However, talking pictures are now all the fashion and George refuses to partake, while Pepper is making a name for herself as a rising star.

More happens, but you’ll have to watch it to find out. Now, here are my problems with “The Artist”. Pepper Miller – I don’t like her, I don’t like her at all. First off she looks too modern, secondly I didn’t much care for her gung-ho character. When you look back at real silent movies, actresses had a soft look, an innocence like Pickford’s or vampish like Theda Bara, Bejo( Pepper) lacked both and looked wrong for the period. Which brings us to her attitude, with big arm gestures and shaking leg movements that seemed rather odd, like she was trying too hard to be a flapper.  She was like a cat in a hamster cage, you know that there should be something furry in there, just not that big.

The verdict then is thus, “The Artist” is a novelty movie and perhaps in time it may become a cult classic, but I doubt it. It’s popular because silent movies are a thing of the past, and people will go to see because it’s different  – however, it fails with young audiences because young people don’t want to watch silent movies, they want cheesy dialogue and special effects. “The Artist” has kind of shot itself in the foot, the novelty of this movie is what will bring the crowds in, but it is the same thing that will turn them away.

Some people will love this movie, I liked it, but it’s not made it into my top 100, some people won’t like it at all. Let’s make this easy, if you like “Avatar” you’ll hate “The Artist” , but if you hate “Avatar” there is hope for you yet.

By Amy Thomas