With Pleasure

            Greetings fellow cinephile and people who like reading reviews!  I’m TheCinemaChick and a cinephile is someone who passionately loves films.  Given my history, I’d say I am one.  Now, I am still very behind with my posts, so I do apologize.  I went on sort of a bender last week, which resulted in me seeing five movies in one week.  You can see why I’m just now catching up with all this.  Plus, I wasn’t feeling so good for a few days and was pretty bummed, but things are looking better now.  I’ve been fortunate enough to have a good friend willing to listen to me and give me some great advice.

            Mumford, if you read this, I just want to thank you.  If I could, I’d bake you a cake…or something…you’ve really helped me out a lot.

            Now, if you’re keeping track, this will be the third movie of five.  So far, I’ve gone over “The Iron Lady” and “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”.  And now we come to quite possibly the strongest contender for best movie of 2012.  You heard me right people.  This movie was so incredibly amazing that I have been unable to describe how great this movie is.  Ironically, this is also the only film in recent history that has had almost no spoken dialogue in it.

            Ladies and gentleman, prepare for my review of quite possibly one of the best movies I have ever seen, The Artist.  It’s already winning awards, such as the Golden Globe for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Original Score.  As of right now, it also has ten Academy Award nominations.  I didn’t expect to love this movie as much as I did.  It did come as a very pleasant surprise.  Silent films don’t seem like something that would be so entertaining but it had a very modern take on it.

            Yes, The Artist is silent and in black and white.  Those two things alone might turn some people away, but do not let those things be the reason you don’t like it.  Honestly, I don’t think there is a single reason to dislike this film.  It’s quite possibly the most original, refreshing and entertaining movie I have ever seen.  I don’t mean this year or in the past year.  I am seriously referring to the duration of my entire life.  The Artist deserves every award it’s gotten and I am hoping to see it have some success at the Oscars.  Jean Dujardin is a strong contender for Best Male Actor, but he has some stiff competition.  I am hoping he wins because he deserves it.

            The story isn’t anything new, honestly.  It’s about a silent movie star who loses his fame when the industry begins making movies with sound.  He’s passed it off as a fad, certain that silent films will always be popular.  When he’s proven wrong and deals with the stock market crash, he loses everything.  George Valentin (Dujardin) goes from a mansion to a one room apartment.  The only constant in his life is his dog, who really steals the show.  There is even a campaign to let Uggie, the dog, get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

            Team Uggie for the win!

            I have seen silent films before and they did nothing for me.  By using a more modern take on an old idea, the film almost revives the genre.  The only sound you hear is the score which adds to the overall emotion of the film.  While the actors do speak, you don’t hear a single word until the end.  Like any silent movie, everyone is melodramatic and it does get a little cheesy at times.  It’s silly, yes but without dialogue to convey emotions, they have to rely on body language.  And even thought it is sort of funny to watch, the overall movie is very dramatic and gripping.

            There’s one scene I want to touch on.  After dismissing the talkies, George has a strange dream.  He’s in his dressing room when he sets a glass down.  For the first time, we have sound effects.  He picks up the glass several times, setting it down and marvels at the noise it makes.  He does the same thing with a comb.  Then, the dog barks and the phone rings.  The sounds are all new to him, which both fascinates and frightens him.  As things get louder, George tries to speak but finds that he has no voice.  He wakes up, scared that he may have been wrong about sticking to silent films.

            The sound editing is flawless.  The majority of the film only has an orchestral score.  Except for the scene I just mentioned and the very last scene, there is nothing.  In the final minutes of the film, we get the only spoken dialogue.  It’s the only time we hear Dujardin speak and he has a very thick French accent.  As the movie ends, we get to hear all of the commotion going on as a movie is filmed.

            When the credits started rolling, everyone in the theater began applauding.  It was an early show and there was only about ten people, including myself, there but how often do people stand up and cheer for a movie?

            The only downside to seeing a silent movie is that I could hear everything going on in the surrounding theaters.  There was something with explosions next door so that was a bit of a problem for me.  While that did detract from my overall experience, I still found The Artist to be one of the best films of all time.  If it wins any Oscars, which it will, I will be very happy.

            So, I saw two movies that were deserving of Oscars and I stand by my opinions.  Meryl Streep should win for Best Actress while Jean Dujardin has earned Best Actor.  I do believe The Artist should take Best Picture as well.  It’s seriously just a movie that needs to be experienced in order for you to understand just how incredible it is.  As I said earlier, this movie has already made my top films of 2012 list.  It’s going to be very difficult to top this.  The Artist has set the bar so high that I don’t think anything will come close to topping it.  And it’s only January.  I have a whole year of movies ahead and I am having some serious doubts that I will see anything that moves me as much as this one did.

            I’m TheCinemaChick and tonight, I’m going to dream a little dream of you.