I really wanted to like this film more than I did (a black and white silent film being released in today's climate? How great is that?), but I found it to be oddly derivative. To me, The Artist felt like nothing more than a never-ending onslaught of references and homages -- a neat pastiche of familiarity. Sure, it's charming, and Jean Dujardin is outstanding as fictitious silent film star George Valentin, but it was tough to get immersed in the film thanks to poor character development, a stale narrative, and a little too much over-sentimentality. Also, for such an intriguing premise, there was a surprising lack of creativity (did Dujardin really need to be a stand-in for Fairbanks in The Mask of Zorro? Directed Michael Hazanavicus couldn't have made up his own silent "film within a film?" Not to mention the painfully obvious Citizen Kane, Modern Times, Thin Man, and A Star is Born references).It's not all bad: the cinematography was stunning, I loved how they shot it in the old 4:3 aspect ratio, it stayed very true to the 20s/30s versions of lighting and production design, and Hazanavicus played with sound in clever ways. Sadly, that's about it. No doubt this film will garner plenty of critical acclaim and will be a sure fire Oscar contender, but from my perspective, I was let down by a film that could have been a great love letter to a bygone era if it hadn't gotten lost in its tribute.
December 4, 2011Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_artist/
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