Silence Is Golden

I've been in a movie theatre when unsuspecting customers walked out of a movie on account of it being 4 hours long (Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet) and I've been there when they walked out of a subtitled movie as well (John Woo's Hard Boiled...although the gore might have been a factor). Now, it would seem we live in a world where dumbed down, Transformers raised cinema folk walk out of movies because they contain no speaking. That's what happened in Liverpool when patrons demanded their money back when they realised Oscar contender The Artist was a 'silent' movie, made in the same (4:3 ratio, black and white film stock, music score only) way as similar films of the 1930's.

The tragedy is that these neanderthal fucks have missed out on a great movie. It's the tragic tale of the fall and fall of George Valentin, a megastar in the era of silent films, whose ego and pride bring him to his knees when he's out of work due to the revolution of 'talkies' in the film industry. His story is beautifully mirrored with that of Peppy Miller, a young, talented and bubbly nobody who is catapulted to fame in an accidental media encounter with Valentin. and it's their attraction and friendship that forms the heart of the plot.

The film itself is a brilliant recreation of the style of silent cinema from the perfect casting, production design and music score all making this feel like it's a lost movie rediscovered from that era. Director Michel Hazanavicius has a few tricks up his sleeve which means that The Artist isn't completely silent for it's running time thanks to the inclusion of a couple of surreal sequences which strengthens the plot with their inclusion. He also plays with his audiences expectations at the start by showing a silent film within the film and having it's main character proclaiming "I will not speak!!"

Gimmicks aside, the film works brilliantly as a piece of visual story telling. The world is perfectly realised, the characters absorbing and it just goes to show that with strong direction, dialogue just isn't required. Come Oscar night, this is the film that I've got my money on.