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THE ARTIST (PG-13) You can fight, but its
hopeless. There's simply no way to resist the
larger-than-life charm of actor Jean Dujardin
as silent film star George Valentin. The man
oozes the sort of star appeal that's rare nowa
days but that was once a required element for
an actor like Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power,
Errol Flynn and others who exuded that special
swashbuckling allure. Valentin is at the top of
his profession, and audiences regularly flock
to his movies. In one he
plays a Fantpmas-like
character, in another a
dashing Zorro-like hero,
and he alv/ays saves the
day with effortless style.
The times are quickly *.
changing however. It's
1927, and the silent film
era is in its twilight.
The Hollywood studios,
including Kinograph
where Valentin is
employed, are about to
make the technological leap into the sound
era. The stars who can't make the transition,
like Valentin, are doomed. But an up-and-
coming talkies actress, Peppy Miller (B§r6nice
Bejo), whom Valentin inadvertently discovered,
does what she can to help the struggling actor.
The.Weinstein marketing juggernaut wants
audiences to think that The Artist, directed by
Michel Hazanavicius, is unique in its evoca
tion of cinema's past—it's not. Since the late
1980s Canadian director Guy Maddin (Tales
from the Gimli Hospital; Careful) has been
conjuring up the pleasures of silent and early
talkie cinema in his own distinctive mov
ies, mimicking the techniques, acting styles
and love of melodrama for new generations.
Mel Brooks also spoofed silent films in his
1976 comedy Silent Mo vie. That's not to take
anything away from Hazanavicius' accomplish
ment, however, which is considerable, always
creatively playful, and infectiously joyous.
Light comedy tends to
get denigrated for being
lesser entertainment,
as if the idea of letting
go and simply enjoying
the work at face value o
is unsophisticated. That
type of thinking seems
like a leftover from
Puritanism: that a movie
is only of great value
or enjoyable if there's
a lesson to be learned
at the end of it all. The
Artist wants our affection. That it earns it
’ honestly is not only a surprise but something
to be savored. Cinematic frivolity doesn't
come any more genuine than this. And like
Hugo and War Horse, it pays homage to earlier
styles of filmmaking at a time when the movie
industry is dramatically in flux. This isn't mere
nostalgia, but a reminder that cinema's rich
past still has a lot to teach us.
Derek Hill
g?X Foundry Park Inn
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