Our Brief Encounter

The slapdash scrawlings of a fanatical film fan

Notes

I saw The Artist earlier today. Spoilers. I had quite a few reservations in going to see this. One, I was worried that a silent film just wouldn’t apply to the masses in cinematic form. Two, I was worried that a lot of the hype about this film had been people feeling that they have to like something they deem as culturally elevated or sophisticated. Three, I was worried that the archaic cinematography of silent film would have been discarded for something more modern. I was wrong on all three counts. This is a film that has been transposed from its setting in 1927 to the modern day. It oozes character and elicits fantastic response. It’s been too long since I’ve heard people laugh in the cinema at anything other than a straight-forward comedy film. It has all the workings of a classic silent film. It’s got the staccato, fixed camera shots. The lack of centric action in the frames. The extroverted emotions and sensations. It had everything it should have had. And that, in a modern film, is amazingly impressive. One genius sequence that I have to give noticeable mention to: the dream sequence in which the protagonist visualises his sense of foreboding about the advent of synchronised sound in film. Slowly, diegetic sound creeps into soundtrack, although his voice always remains muted. It was a sensational scene. And it’s here as well that the film’s greatest strength became even more noticable; that is, it’s exceptional use of music and soundtrack. Silence in integral, and this film is built on it. The haunting power of a silent sequence is all the more prominent here than in a usual film. The air of tension, anticipation, waiting grips the entire audience simultaneously and unanimously. The soundtrack provides superb narration for the happenings on screen without becoming too literal or pantomime. It carries a simple, recognisable motif which generates that light-hearted, playful atmosphere that it holds so masterfully. The sound, most definitely, was an Oscar-worthy feature. It’s never going to be a film people want to see again and again. It’s also the kind of film that people should see in the cinema atmosphere to really understand it. It has a cultural aesthetic that is award-worthy. Even though it won’t become a leisurely film, it will become one of sensational profundity.

I saw The Artist earlier today.

Spoilers.

I had quite a few reservations in going to see this. One, I was worried that a silent film just wouldn’t apply to the masses in cinematic form. Two, I was worried that a lot of the hype about this film had been people feeling that they have to like something they deem as culturally elevated or sophisticated. Three, I was worried that the archaic cinematography of silent film would have been discarded for something more modern.

I was wrong on all three counts.

This is a film that has been transposed from its setting in 1927 to the modern day. It oozes character and elicits fantastic response. It’s been too long since I’ve heard people laugh in the cinema at anything other than a straight-forward comedy film. It has all the workings of a classic silent film. It’s got the staccato, fixed camera shots. The lack of centric action in the frames. The extroverted emotions and sensations. It had everything it should have had. And that, in a modern film, is amazingly impressive.

One genius sequence that I have to give noticeable mention to: the dream sequence in which the protagonist visualises his sense of foreboding about the advent of synchronised sound in film. Slowly, diegetic sound creeps into soundtrack, although his voice always remains muted. It was a sensational scene. And it’s here as well that the film’s greatest strength became even more noticable; that is, it’s exceptional use of music and soundtrack.

Silence in integral, and this film is built on it. The haunting power of a silent sequence is all the more prominent here than in a usual film. The air of tension, anticipation, waiting grips the entire audience simultaneously and unanimously. The soundtrack provides superb narration for the happenings on screen without becoming too literal or pantomime. It carries a simple, recognisable motif which generates that light-hearted, playful atmosphere that it holds so masterfully. The sound, most definitely, was an Oscar-worthy feature.

It’s never going to be a film people want to see again and again. It’s also the kind of film that people should see in the cinema atmosphere to really understand it. It has a cultural aesthetic that is award-worthy. Even though it won’t become a leisurely film, it will become one of sensational profundity.

Filed under the artist artist silent film silent oscars oscar academy award academy awards Michel Hazanavicius Hazanavicius Jean Dujardin Bérénice Bejo film review film