I have refused to watch The Artist for a long time because I thought that the only reason it got an academy award was that it's a black and white movie made in an era of 3D. I had deemed it bad, boring and ridiculous even before seeing it. Well, what a giant mistake to make. I saw it and I enjoyed it.
One of the first things that struck me while watching was just how much more challenging it is to watch a silent movie. We're so used to having sound that I sometimes just drift of (those aren't my proudest moments) and only listen to the sound instead of watching. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with movies. Anyway, a silent movie forces you to pay more attention. At least if you want to know what's going on.
This is the first silent movie I've ever seen, not counting some parts of old black and white movies. What was pretty surprising to me is that you could perfectly understand what was going on, just by mimics, face expression, music. I did enjoy The Artist, but I doubt I'll be seeing any more silent movies any time soon.
The story is simple and it would have worked even as a talkie. George Valentin, played by Jean Dujardin, is a big movie star and Peppy Miller is an aspiring new actress. George refuses to start making talkies, he thinks that talkies aren't art and he's an artist. Because he's reluctant to adjust, he loses almost everything. Well, everything except the dog. George is pushed out by a new generation, by the market crash and most importantly sound. I've heard stories of actors who've lost work when talkies became the big thing, but I never really thought about them. I can't even imagine the lives of those people. All of a sudden, you've lost everything you knew. That must have been awful. Losing your job because of slight changes.
We tend to forget how much watching movies and movies themselves have changed. There are some things like sound, that we take perfectly for granted. I don't like watching movies in 3D, but what if that's the future? What will happen if in the future there are only 3D movies to watch? Nothing, I guess. Nothing much has changed with sound. For us at least. Movies are still made, movies are still seen.
This is the first silent movie I've ever seen, not counting some parts of old black and white movies. What was pretty surprising to me is that you could perfectly understand what was going on, just by mimics, face expression, music. I did enjoy The Artist, but I doubt I'll be seeing any more silent movies any time soon.
The story is simple and it would have worked even as a talkie. George Valentin, played by Jean Dujardin, is a big movie star and Peppy Miller is an aspiring new actress. George refuses to start making talkies, he thinks that talkies aren't art and he's an artist. Because he's reluctant to adjust, he loses almost everything. Well, everything except the dog. George is pushed out by a new generation, by the market crash and most importantly sound. I've heard stories of actors who've lost work when talkies became the big thing, but I never really thought about them. I can't even imagine the lives of those people. All of a sudden, you've lost everything you knew. That must have been awful. Losing your job because of slight changes.
We tend to forget how much watching movies and movies themselves have changed. There are some things like sound, that we take perfectly for granted. I don't like watching movies in 3D, but what if that's the future? What will happen if in the future there are only 3D movies to watch? Nothing, I guess. Nothing much has changed with sound. For us at least. Movies are still made, movies are still seen.
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