The year 2011, a few days before year 2012 commences, but watching "The Artist" -unexpected surprise in cinema- was an experience that took me back to the late '20s early '30s. I don't usually write film reviews, and I don't intend to, I am simply writing about this film because I believe that it is a very important one and I will go on explaining why.
First of all, have you ever thought of the time when cinema changed from mute to talking? Have you ever wondered how the mute-films stars dealt with this life changing-for both them and the viewers- transition? This is mostly what the film is about. A movie star, who with the arrival of talking picture, which he snubbed, loses his job, his wife leaves him -but we don't really care about that, neither does he, because in the meantime he fell in love with a starlet, who he promoted and who became the upcoming star of talking cinema- and then the economic crisis comes and he loses everything. And there he is Jean Dujardin, a great French actor as an American film star. But we don't really care about that either, I mean his origin, simply because WE DON'T HEAR HIS VOICE -actually we do a little bit in the end but SPOILER ALERT!!! So, this is what I really want to talk about. I don't intend to analyse the amazing direction of Michel Hazanavicius, or the well chosen and very very very talented cast. But the idea of making a mute film in 2011/12 the way it was done in 1920. Surely it has a few modern touches that one would not see in a 1920 picture but they actually serve an artistic purpose and manage to keep the '20s atmosphere. The point is that a film done like the did 92 years ago today is considered something new, different, fresh. And is it not? Who nowadays, my age, older than me, my parents age, has ever seen mute cinema? Well, very few... I understand that for many today watching a mute film is difficult and bores them. But believe you me this one will NOT bore you. It does not lack in action, there is romance and drama, new things to learn and a happy ending. I am not saying that we should return and stick to the past. Of course not. But if you think about it Renaissance, Enlightenment, Humanism encompassed a flowering of literature, science, art, religion, and politics, and a resurgence of learning based on classical sources. The penultimate growing and flowering era the world met was a return to the past only in order to use that knowledge for the present and the future. Anyway I deviated from the topic. Mute films are cool. Sometimes words are just meaningless, blabbering, unnecessary words. You don't really need to hear all the babble to understand what is going on... On the contrary words take your attention away from all the movements, the body and face expression that show the real emotions. Isn't that what it's all about in the end?
I've probably said too much and it looks like I'm the one blabbering. To conclude, my point is that perhaps we are embarking on a new era, first artistically, then scientifically, then socially and hopefully someday politically. Maybe it is time to glance in the past and continue in the future.
*Let's not forget that the past has already invaded fashion and trends (vintage, swing, timberland boots, ray ban sunglasses, swing/jazz/blues/garage music) But what we still don't seem to be able to cast off is... name-tags...One day... :D
**Watch the film "The artist", the greatest I've seen for a long time...
Moral: Life never ends. Even when things are dump there is always an alternative!
