{"id":19043,"date":"2012-02-07T06:42:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T14:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=19043"},"modified":"2012-02-07T07:38:37","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T15:38:37","slug":"the-artist-michel-hazanavicius-2011-france-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=19043","title":{"rendered":"The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011): France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Linda Lopez<\/a>.\u00a0Viewed at the\u00a0SBIFF. \u00a0Lobero Theater.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Arist\u201d is a French silent movie filmed in B&W.\u00a0 Yes, there is no verbal dialogue but the music\u00a0steps in and becomes\u00a0the dialogue.\u00a0\u00a0Following the plot is easy and soon you forget that there are no vocal sounds.\u00a0 Kind of magical in a way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 1927, and silent screen actor George Valentin (portrayed by Jean Dujardin) is at the highlight of his acting career.\u00a0 George is married, albeit it’s not the happiest marriage, but his upbeat outlook beams outward with his most amazing smile.\u00a0 He meets Peppy Miller (played by Berenice Bejo) by chance when she trips in front of him while picking up her purse that accidently dropped from her hands during a press encounter with the paparazzi.\u00a0 \u00a0Valentin saves Peppy from any embarrassment and makes a joke about the entire incident.\u00a0 The next day, \u201cVariety\u201d has a picture of George and Peppy on the front cover asking \u201cWho Is That Girl?\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Mrs. Valentin isn\u2019t very happy about George\u00a0with the mysterious girl.\u00a0 But George, nevertheless, makes light of the situation, and he has his adorable Jack Russell dog (played by Uggie) to help iron out some of the creases in Mrs. Valentin\u2019s dour face.<\/p>\n

Peppy meets George again at the movie studio when she decides to try out for a dancing part in a movie.\u00a0 He remembers her and ends up helping her get the part.\u00a0 Later alone in George\u2019s dressing room, Peppy sees George\u2019s jacket and hat hanging\u00a0on a coat\u00a0rack.\u00a0\u00a0As Peppy admires the jacket and\u00a0hat (as if George was standing before her), she\u00a0slips\u00a0her arm into the jacket sleeve and then hugs herself pretending it’s George hugging her.\u00a0\u00a0When George suddenly walks into the room Peppy is embarrassed to be caught hugging herself.\u00a0 But, George is able to put Peppy at ease with his usual charm.\u00a0 Before Peppy goes on her way, George tells her that she needs to have her own special mark if she wants to be a movie star.\u00a0 So, he takes a pencil and makes a small beauty mark above her lip.<\/p>\n

Swiftly, it\u2019s 1929 and talkies are now the new format for movie making, but George refuses to talk which means he has no work.\u00a0 Simultaneously, Peppy has become a rising star and makes the transition from silent to talking movies with ease.\u00a0 (It’s interesting to note that George is always seen walking down stairs while Peppy is always walking up stairs.\u00a0 Hmmm, any symbology here?)<\/p>\n

So, how does George make the transition from the old to the new?\u00a0 To find out more, you must watch this movie yourself.\u00a0 I assure that anyone who sees this movie will be pleasantly surprised and delighted with how this silent movie can carry you away without any dialogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Arist\u201d was directed and written by Michel Hazanevicius.\u00a0 He is married to Berenice Bejo and has made several movies with Jean Dujardin.\u00a0 This movie has been in numerous film festivals and has received countless awards.\u00a0 It has been nominated for Oscars in the following categories:\u00a0 Best Picture, Acting in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Directing.\u00a0 Not too bad for a silent film!<\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Linda Lopez.\u00a0Viewed at the\u00a0SBIFF. \u00a0Lobero Theater. \u201cThe Arist\u201d is a French silent movie filmed in B&W.\u00a0 Yes, there is no verbal dialogue but the music\u00a0steps in and becomes\u00a0the dialogue.\u00a0\u00a0Following the plot is easy and soon you forget that there are no vocal sounds.\u00a0 Kind of magical in a way. It\u2019s 1927, and silent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1958,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,181,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2012","category-silent-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1958"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}