The Artist

[christoph404]

Doesn't Marcel say "NON" when asked to be part of the film within Silent Movie.

I think that might be so, the ironic joke being that mime artist Marcel has the only speaking role in the film.

[julian_craster]

Uggie to retire from the screen...:

BBC News - Uggie the dog to retire, says trainer

[batman]

Here's a recommendation for The Artist that must be treated very seriously ....

''The Artist is one of the very best films I have ever seen.'' - John Llewellyn Moxey

.... praise doesn't come much higher than that.

[mrs_emma_peel]

Here's a recommendation for The Artist that must be treated very seriously ....

''The Artist is one of the very best films I have ever seen.'' - John Llewellyn Moxey

.... praise doesn't come much higher than that.

I totally agree
Emma

[Sgt Sunshine]

I enjoyed it so much I'm going to see it again tomorrow....and this time Mrs Sarge & the young lad are coming to......
The last time I saw the same film twice in the cinema (in its initial run) was way back in 1979 (The Kid's are Allright)...
Cheers
Sgt S

[mrs_emma_peel]

They are both equally good in ..... OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies.

link: OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006) - IMDb

I can also thoroughly recommend OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies ... a wonderfully entertaining, fast moving James Bond style spy pastiche ... done with terrific style, humour, class and panache ... with Jean Dujardin (looking remarkably like Sean Connery) with his Artist partner the stunning Bérénice Bejo.
Available from Amazon for £4-97.

I saw part of most of this outstanding movie, quite by chance, on BBC4 in November 2010, and was hooked immediately.
Emma

[mrs_emma_peel]

Sky Movies review of The Artist by Francesca Steele ... 5/5 Stars

A black and white silent film about the end of silent film-making? Not even its director or cast thought The Artist would get much attention, let alone be mooted for Oscar success.

And yet no one who has seen The Artist could doubt its popular appeal. It is the most joyous burst of pure pleasure to emerge on screen in years, a simple, tender story told in a simple format, expressing love and tragedy more effectively than any big blockbuster ever could.

Jean Dujardin is George Valentin, a preening, moustached silent film star at the top of his game. One day, Peppy Miller (the dazzling Bérénice Bejo), a beautiful nobody with ambitions of Hollywood success, falls into his life and soon she is performing as an extra in one of his films.

Director Michel Hazanavicius classily offers little more than just a hint of mutual attraction, teasing us with lovely touches such as the scene where Peppy enfolds herself in George’s jacket to pretend he is embracing her. Very soon however, their roles are reversed.

As Kinograph Studios begins to dismantle its silent productions with the arrival of “the talkies” Peppy’s star rises, while George is left financing his own doomed silent film, which aptly ends with his aged character sinking into quicksand.

The stock market crash of 1929 and the separation from his wife complete his downfall. Only Clifton (James Cromwell), his doting driver, and his faithful dog Uggy (a scene-stealing Jack Russell) stick with him.

Peppy, though is always nearby, if not appreciated. She goes to see his failure of a film on the night of her own premiere; she visits him in hospital. If only George were not too proud to accept her gestures of friendship.

The tone, though always skirting around the tragedy of unrealised romance, is playful and exudes the merriment and easy laughs of the silent films to which it is an homage.

The two leads are splendid (Dujardin won Best Actor at Cannes) and manage perfectly to capture the exaggerated style of the silent era without ever descending into farce. When George says that people do not “need” to hear him speak, he is quite right. His face does all the talking.

Hazanavicius makes a virtue of the lack of sound. Inter-titles are sparsely but cleverly used (particularly in one climactic scene where we expect one thing but get another) and the score compliments but never drowns the action. The scene where George suddenly begins to “hear” is so brilliantly imagined it makes us, like George, want to clamp our hands to our ears and make it all go away.

This is a film drenched in love - love for an old and forgotten Hollywood, for a simpler type of film-making, romantic love, even pet love! - and yet it is so delicately rendered, so understated, that it never feels syrupy.

Gorgeously shot and utterly absorbing, this is a truly original love story that will leave you speechless.

Francesca Steele
Sky Movies
Emma

[sippog]

Sorry, I can't really see what all the fuss is about. The Artist was for me a pleasant enough sentimental pastiche but nothing out of the ordinary. The French do sentiment and pastiche very well - although I prefer the genuine gallic flavour of a Renoir film or a Pagnol story when it comes to the sentiment. They also have been doing pastiches of Hollywood films forever (stand up, Mr Godard) but again I prefer the source material (the dog from the Nick and Nora movies, the Singing In The Rain and Star is Born schtick).

It reminds me of Warren Beatty trying to explain Bonnie and Clyde to Jack Warner: "Well, Jack, you see it's kind of a 'hommage' to the Warner Bros gangster movies of the thirties . . " Jack Warner nods sagely, then says: "What the f***k's a 'hommage'?" What, indeed. The original's usually better

[CaptainWaggett]

Sorry, I can't really see what all the fuss is about. The Artist was for me a pleasant enough sentimental pastiche but nothing out of the ordinary. The French do sentiment and pastiche very well - although I prefer the genuine gallic flavour of a Renoir film or a Pagnol story when it comes to the sentiment. They also have been doing pastiches of Hollywood films forever (stand up, Mr Godard) but again I prefer the source material (the dog from the Nick and Nora movies, the Singing In The Rain and Star is Born schtick).

It reminds me of Warren Beatty trying to explain Bonnie and Clyde to Jack Warner: "Well, Jack, you see it's kind of a 'hommage' to the Warner Bros gangster movies of the thirties . . " Jack Warner nods sagely, then says: "What the f***k's a 'hommage'?" What, indeed. The original's usually better

[Sgt Sunshine]

Poster problems....
BBC News - Jean Dujardin Oscar 'under threat' over film posters

Cheers
Sgt S

[Steve Crook]

Poster problems....
BBC News - Jean Dujardin Oscar 'under threat' over film posters

Cheers
Sgt S

What's more likely to affect the chances of this (Les Infideles aka The Players) film winning an Oscar is that it wasn't nominated for any

Steve

[Sgt Sunshine]

What's more likely to affect the chances of this (Les Infideles aka The Players) film winning an Oscar is that it wasn't nominated for any

Steve

Ah.....you've just amended your post
I thought for a minute you were referring to The Artist

[Steve Crook]

Ah.....you've just amended your post
I thought for a minute you were referring to The Artist

No, it was a badly written article on the BBC site. It gives the impression that the posters are spoiling the chances of Les Infideles winning an Oscar when they weren't nominated. What they mean is that a few people think that the complaints about the posters for Les Infideles will affect Jean Dujardin's chances of winning the Oscar for The Artist. It's no real surprise though, the Oscars are usually more about the politics in Hollywood and the in-fighting between the studios rather than about pure artistic merit

Steve

[Sgt Sunshine]

I shall be pleased if it does get a few awards......and Uggie to get a few more sausages...
Cheers
Sgt S

[dremble wedge]

Sorry, I can't really see what all the fuss is about. The Artist was for me a pleasant enough sentimental pastiche but nothing out of the ordinary.

I'd agree with this, it didn't grab me (although both leads were good), and it really took its time going about its business.

If it wins the big one at the Oscars I wonder if, in a few years, it will be seen as one of the dodgier winners such as Ordinary People, Driving Miss Daisy, Forrest Gump etc?

[CaptainWaggett]

No, it was a badly written article on the BBC site. It gives the impression that the posters are spoiling the chances of Les Infideles winning an Oscar when they weren't nominated. What they mean is that a few people think that the complaints about the posters for Les Infideles will affect Jean Dujardin's chances of winning the Oscar for The Artist. It's no real surprise though, the Oscars are usually more about the politics in Hollywood and the in-fighting between the studios rather than about pure artistic merit

Steve

I didn't read the article as referring to Les Infideles - it was obvious what it was referring to and that peple remember the unfortunate kerfuffle last time a French actor was nominated for the Best actor Oscar. And yes, everyone knows it's all about politics which is why voters are affected by irrelevant stuff like posters for different films.

[Sgt Sunshine]

"The Artist" wins best picture award at this years Oscars.......
Along with several other awards

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Cheers
Sgt S

[orpheum2]

Whilst i am pleased that The Artist won the best picture oscar i am infuriated at Sky.They put the awards ceremony on their pay for chaneel,so for the first time in years i wasnt able to record the awards.I hope Murdoch goes broke!On a positive note either by accident or design Film4 are showing at this very moment "Orphans Of The Storm"(1921) which i am recording!

[Steve Crook]

On the "Today" programme on BBC Radio 4 they kept referring to it as a silent film. Then I saw that the BBC News web site made the same mistake. Some news sources are even saying that it's the first Best Picture win for a silent film since the first year of the Oscars.

The Artist must be the only silent film with people speaking in it
It is mainly silent and it is about silent films, but it isn't a silent film

Steve

[CaptainWaggett]

On the "Today" programme on BBC Radio 4 they kept referring to it as a silent film. Then I saw that the BBC News web site made the same mistake. Some news sources are even saying that it's the first Best Picture win for a silent film since the first year of the Oscars.

The Artist must be the only silent film with people speaking in it
It is mainly silent and it is about silent films, but it isn't a silent film

Steve

Three lines of dialogue and a couple of sound effects does not a talkie make in my book. It's like calling Spellbound a technicolour extravanganza because there's a nano-second of red