Odes to top cinema are top contenders...
Of the nine films that made the cut for Best Picture, two doff their hats to motion pictures, while three deal with the theme of death. Throw in the Civil Rights era and the 1920s’ ‘Lost Generation’, and you have quite a number of period films this year,
Sound & Awe
Films like The Artist come along once in a while. How oten does a ilm capture your imagination, have you transixed, entertain you every moment it unspools, and leave you eeling elated in the end? This is movie-making at its best. It’s poetic justice then that the ilm itsel is an ode to cinema, a recreation o the time when motion pictures had just entered our lives, and when going to the movies was a joy that was unparalleled. It also relects a time when cinema was on the cusp o a revolution that would change everything — the advent o sound.
French ilmmaker Michel Haznavicius continues to salute cinema in his ilms. Two o his earlier ilms, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest o Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, were ashioned on Hollywood spy ilms. This time, the director dos his hat to 1920s’ Hollywood, and pays it the ultimate tribute by writing a script sans dialogue. He goes a step ahead and treats The Artist like a ilm not just about the 1920s, but one that ollows the tenets o the ilms made then.
The Artist is the story o Hollywood superstar George Valentin and his love aair with starlet Peppy Miller. Valentin’s an entertainer par excellence, a charmer. But while he reigns the silent movie era, he is lustered and shaken when sound makes its entry in ilms.
The storyline may have nothing new to oer, it’s clichéd even, but Haznavicius makes every moment a treat. The background score, given its importance with the absence o dialogue, is eective, the art direction spot-on, and the cinematography captures the era aptly. Not surprisingly, the ilm has received a host o technical nominations.
There is no other way to put it — The Artist is the best ilm o 2011, a cinematic triumph, and deserves to win the prize. Haznavicius does everything a director could do right with this ilm, and surely deserves a shot at the Best Director Oscar, but Martin Scorsese (or Hugo) and Alexander Payne (or The Descendants) could prove to be diicult competition to beat. Haznavicius has won a ew Original Screenplay awards or the ilm earlier in the year and could win here too.
Jean Dujardin, as Valentin, plays a character most actors rom the current generation would ind diicult to portray — he has to rely on expressions and body language more than dialogue, and he delivers beautiully. I the Academy isn’t as gung-ho as it seems to be on George Clooney this year, Dujardin could be an unlikely winner.
One thing is certain: The Artist’s perormance in the major categories (Picture, Direction, Acting) is what will decide how we remember Oscars 2012.
Of the nine films that made the cut for Best Picture, two doff their hats to motion pictures, while three deal with the theme of death. Throw in the Civil Rights era and the 1920s’ ‘Lost Generation’, and you have quite a number of period films this year,
Sound & Awe
Films like The Artist come along once in a while. How oten does a ilm capture your imagination, have you transixed, entertain you every moment it unspools, and leave you eeling elated in the end? This is movie-making at its best. It’s poetic justice then that the ilm itsel is an ode to cinema, a recreation o the time when motion pictures had just entered our lives, and when going to the movies was a joy that was unparalleled. It also relects a time when cinema was on the cusp o a revolution that would change everything — the advent o sound.
French ilmmaker Michel Haznavicius continues to salute cinema in his ilms. Two o his earlier ilms, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest o Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, were ashioned on Hollywood spy ilms. This time, the director dos his hat to 1920s’ Hollywood, and pays it the ultimate tribute by writing a script sans dialogue. He goes a step ahead and treats The Artist like a ilm not just about the 1920s, but one that ollows the tenets o the ilms made then.
The Artist is the story o Hollywood superstar George Valentin and his love aair with starlet Peppy Miller. Valentin’s an entertainer par excellence, a charmer. But while he reigns the silent movie era, he is lustered and shaken when sound makes its entry in ilms.
The storyline may have nothing new to oer, it’s clichéd even, but Haznavicius makes every moment a treat. The background score, given its importance with the absence o dialogue, is eective, the art direction spot-on, and the cinematography captures the era aptly. Not surprisingly, the ilm has received a host o technical nominations.
There is no other way to put it — The Artist is the best ilm o 2011, a cinematic triumph, and deserves to win the prize. Haznavicius does everything a director could do right with this ilm, and surely deserves a shot at the Best Director Oscar, but Martin Scorsese (or Hugo) and Alexander Payne (or The Descendants) could prove to be diicult competition to beat. Haznavicius has won a ew Original Screenplay awards or the ilm earlier in the year and could win here too.
Jean Dujardin, as Valentin, plays a character most actors rom the current generation would ind diicult to portray — he has to rely on expressions and body language more than dialogue, and he delivers beautiully. I the Academy isn’t as gung-ho as it seems to be on George Clooney this year, Dujardin could be an unlikely winner.
One thing is certain: The Artist’s perormance in the major categories (Picture, Direction, Acting) is what will decide how we remember Oscars 2012.
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