Rating summary
Movie | | 4.5 |
Video | | 4.5 |
Audio | | 4.0 |
Extras | | 3.0 |
Overall | | 4.0 |
The Artist Blu-ray Movie Review
The Artist currently known as Oscar.
Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 16, 2012
The world is now talking.
Indeed, the entire world is now talking about the modern silent movie The Artist, a handsome, breezy, fun, and particularly well-made
throwback that tells the story of the end of the Silent era in (relatively) silent form. Director Michel Hazanavicius (The Players) keeps the
movie fresh and fast, easily recapturing the magic and glamour and particulars of a bygone era even in the here-and-now, in a world of blazing-fast
spectacle and motion-as-cinema. The Artist plays as do those baseball games that are so popular anymore, the ones where the traditional
teams and their current modern players dress up in the bulky old-school getups in an effort to recreate the look of the game as it was in the olden
days, while the electronic signage and between-inning entertainment videos and rocking music and inter-inning races featuring dead presidents and
overstuffed pierogies and uncooked sausages effort to keep the fans in the game, because suddenly the "as it was" isn't good enough anymore,
except
on those rare occasions when "as it was" returns in gimmick form not to keep the past alive, but to salute father time and the roots of progress.
That's The
Artist, an early 21st century take on an early 20th century style. And as baseball remains baseball whether a player walks up to the dish with
his
favorite song blaring in the background while wearing a more form-fitting jersey and with his pant legs scraping the ground or in silence with a baggy
top and
socks up to his knees, so does The Artist and movies remain art and movies, whether the characters speak, objects make
sound, color fills in black and
white, or it hails from 1928 or 2011.
Breathless.
Silent film star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) just can't get enough of himself. He soaks up attention like a long-dried sponge absorbs some
much-needed water. He's larger than life and, in his mind, larger even than his projected image which appears on the big screen. Following the
successful premiere of his latest hit, he has a run-in with a beautiful girl named Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) while in the midst of an eager press
corps. Suddenly, George and Peppy are the talk of the tabloids and entertainment rags. They appear together on the cover of
Variety,
angering Kinograph Studios bossman Al Zimmer (John Goodman) because the added press for his star means news of the movie's successful debut
has been relegated to page five. Soon, Peppy's living the dream up on the silver screen, first as an extra and, with every new picture, moving on up
the credit list until she's poised to become Kinograph's newest and hottest attraction. In fact, she's the perfect face -- complete with her painted-on
beauty mark courtesy of none other than George himself -- to head up Kinograph's new sound division, which Zimmer and company believe to be
the future of filmed entertainment. But George will have none of this talking business. He sets out to prove that silent films remain king, financing
his own project while Kinograph and Peppy set out to make history -- and a fortune. Can George's silent holdout make a handsome return on
investment while proving the
staying power of a dying way of doing things, or will Peppy's stardom and the success of the talkie convince him to change with the times?
The Artist offers a pleasant reprieve from the cookie-cutter pictures of today, those sorts that expect audiences to cheer for digital
performances, precision sound engineering, and lighting-quick editing rather than raw, on-screen human performance art. The picture extends a
welcoming hand back into a time and place that's not exactly unidentifiable, but certainly a little more
personal, not quite so stock or
hackneyed but rather reliant on charm and personality to woo audiences into buying more of what the studios were (and are, with
The
Artist) selling. Cinema wasn't so
much a drug then as it is now;
The
Artist looks and feels like a movie, but it doesn't have that same detached, out-of-body, totally bereft of reality effect that so many modern
pictures yield. It's a bit more
approachable and likable for what comes
out of it rather than what
goes into it. The narrative explodes from the glance and the
glimpse and the music and the moves. It's the simplest sort of moving picture storytelling and arguably the better kind, where simple is better and
past
simple does more for the constant of thematic complex than the
modern involved does for the constant of thematic complex. Though words
are limited to text and
sounds beyond the orchestra to the audience's reaction,
The Artist tells a more complete story than do many modern movies with the
entire
arsenal of added speech, sound, and even dimensions at their disposal. And that's not to say that modern technology hasn't produced some
fantastic
motion pictures -- it has -- but
The Artist does more than simply demonstrate the past, it brings it to life and, even more important, shows
modern audiences that today's tools of the trade aren't the end-all, be-all of moviemaking, that
the core is what matters, that
movies
are still
movies no matter what's added or subtracted, just as
baseball will always be
baseball regardless of supporting
digital content, in-game entertainment, or uniform appearance.
The Artist may be best described as "classy," a picture of high regard for the past and constructed with an evident dedication to preserving
the authentic look and feel of the time it so uncannily captures both in style and narrative. Indeed, that's the truly fascinating element here, the
way the movie so easily tells a tale of a bygone era through that era's particular lens. The narrative is in
constant motion, a steady state of flux, as the picture's world changes its characters as they either happily, reluctantly, or otherwise transition
towards new beginnings. Habit and routine are stubborn creatures to be sure, but
The Artist demonstrates that even as things change,
they never quite go away, and it's often easier to look backwards than it is to move forwards.
The Artist celebrates the past in
recreating it, and it does so with flair and fun, style and precision. The picture is gorgeously assembled and detailed right down to the faintest trace
of makeup and the smallest little background detail. Even as the movie settles into something of an unknown quantity, it proves incredibly easy to
both accept and digest its unique throwback brand of
simple. The performances, along with the steady diet of the past recreated to
perfection, are
largely responsible for selling the movie and making it work. Leads Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo dazzle with a spunk and uncanny
understanding of the inner-workings and idiosyncrasies of the silent star. They don't appear learned performers but rather living testimonials to the
way things were, how actors acted and shaped stories in the days of the silents.
The Artist dazzles with every new scene and through its
simple take on the thematic complex, but it's the precision way in which everything comes together to create a movie straight out of the late 1920s
and
early 1930s
about the late 1920s and early 1930s that makes the movie such a wonderful time capsule, even if the only thing that's
not authentic is the production date.
The Artist Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The Artist performs on Blu-ray via a handsome black-and-white 1080p transfer which retains the picture's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, placing
vertical black bars on either side of the 1.78:1 high definition display surface. This is a rich, steady, visually captivating sort of transfer that serves up
impressive detailing and clarity throughout. Early shots inside a cinema reveal precise audience member facial shapes and details from the front row to
the back, a fine example of the transfer's crispness and stability. Period clothing textures impress, as do Los Angeles exteriors and interiors. Fine facial
details, right down to the last freckle, lip lines, makeup powders, and natural creases, are plainly revealed in every scene. The black-and-white
photography remains balanced and true throughout, with strong, steady black levels that never overwhelm the darkest corners of the frame. The image
can be a little soft around a few edges, and intermittent banding shows up to hinder a few backgrounds, but this is otherwise a resplendent Blu-ray
transfer from Sony, one that shows the strengths of a good, firm black-and-white image presented lovingly and with care in high definition.
The Artist Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The Artist speaks easy and carries a big DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. OK, so "speak" and "big" aren't quite right (but who can
resist the play on words?); "reserved" is more like it. Though music enjoys an evident richness, nice front-side spacing, a slight but evident surround
support element, and superb clarity, it never really extends much of a sonic muscle, playing things relatively light and easy at reference levels. This isn't
a track to blow away audience members but rather subtly submerge them into the film's musical accompaniments. And to be sure, and despite an
absence of raw volume, separation impresses as does clarity and precision throughout the entire range, from sharp highs to a heavy and accurate
bottom. Yet the music tells the story sometimes with the same clarity of actor movement; it's a critical centerpiece that makes "silent" into
"not-so-silent" and instead "musically critical." To discuss any further particulars of the soundtrack would be a disservice to the surprises the movie and
several key scenes hold, but suffice it to say whatever -- if anything -- appears within this lossless body is handled with the expert care and attention to
detail listeners have come to expect from Sony Blu-ray releases.
The Artist Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
The Artist contains a good assortment of extra content, including a lengthy Q&A session with the cast and crew, a making-of piece, and
several smaller featurettes.
- Blooper Reel (1080p, 2:14): Silent movie bloopers set to period score.
- The Artist: The Making of an American Romance (1080p, 21:56): An overview piece that features cast and crew discussing the
story, the characters, learning the dance moves, the history of Hollywood in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the influx of talkies and the challenges
posed to silent films, The Artist's throwback and authentic style, shooting in Hollywood, and the work of the performers.
- Q&A with the Filmmakers and Cast (1080p, 44:57): Matt Holzman hosts Actors Missi Pyle, James Cromwell, Jean Dujardin, and Bérénice
Bejo; Director Michel Hazanavicius; and Producer Thomas Langmann for a question-and-answer session.
- Hollywood as a Character: The Locations of The Artist (1080p, 5:10): A closer look at shooting in Los Angeles. This piece
recycles a few snippets from the Making-of feature.
- The Artisans Behind The Artist (1080p): A four-part feature that closely examines the roles and works of some of the
behind-the-scenes talent. Included are The Production Design (2:27), The Cinematography (1:22), The Costumes (3:44),
and The Composer (3:55).
- Sneak Peaks: Additional Sony/Weinstein titles.
- UV Digital Copy.
The Artist Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
The Artist represents moviemaking as it once was without most of today's tools, and while it looks and sounds and feels different, it's
proof positive that a movie is still a movie by and through any fad or trend or technology. It's the story of two people moving artistically
apart but in
other ways together as all they've known changes for the better or for the worse. It's a tale of acceptance, moving forward, and honoring the past
rather than unrealistically and stubbornly championing and clinging to it. The picture yields exceptional performances and a faultless throwback
appearance. It's in every way the movie a movie about the movies in transition should be, and The Artist is one of the year's finest pictures.
Sony's Blu-ray release of The Artist features great video and audio. Several supplements are included. Highly recommended.