As soon as I grew past the phase of rebellious teenage life during which you are required to abhor your mother, because you begin to realize it is inevitable that you will grow into her, my mother and I became the best of friends. We attended museum exhibits, films and opera together discussing them at great lengths afterward, bouncing our usually quite distinct opinions off of one another. When I announced I would be moving to the tundra of Syracuse, she and my father decided to out-do me with the proclamation that they would be moving to la la land (Los Angeles).

Months later, as we come to terms with our life overhauls, I had the brilliant idea to do cross-country film reviews/conversations. Here is our first!

The Artist

Monica Smart:

Skip the popcorn! The Artist is a black and white, silent film and winner of the Best Picture award in this years’ Golden Globes. It has no sex, f-bombs or gore, which seems unheard of these days.

Actually the entire movie is unheard (until the very last minute) except for the lovely, old-school musical score by French composer Ludovic Bource who won a Golden Globe for best soundtrack. The movie centers around George Valentin, a dashing silent film star who hams it up while being followed by the cutest terrier in film since Asta, the pooch from the Thin Man movies. Valentin is the big MGM star back when a movie was as much about the star as the script.

We watch as technology catches up to him in the form of talkies which he laughingly (albeit silently) mocks. As a fan of old movies ,who spent much of the 80’s watching them for the first time in an effort to shield my young children from the sex and violence of contemporary movies, I recognized many scenes. Singin’ in the Rain, Sunset Boulevard, Citizen Kane, and even old Tarzan movies to name just a few. Of course, no movie is complete without a love story and here you have one straight from the good old days when love conquers all.

A beautiful young woman with the apt name of Peppy saves George and lovingly brings him into the modern world (I don’t think that is a spoiler- you can see it coming from their first meeting). Charming and delightful, The Artist is a quiet tribute to movies. Thus, skip the popcorn-too noisy!

Lauren:

The Artist  made me an incredibly happy moviegoer. With heartstealing characters, a well-crafted score and a plot with more twists and turns than most talkies, I left the movie theater with a renewed hope in the art of filmmaking.

An homage to how things used to be, as Mom so aptly suggests, I think  The Artist was also a poetic stab at modern films return to ‘mugging.’ I mean – have you seen Ryan Gosling in ‘Drive’?

It’s an incredible statement that audiences and film awards across the world are  making, that a silent actor is the ‘best actor’ and that a silent film could be nominated for ‘writing.’

But Guillaume Schiffman’s cinematography didn’t strike me as impressive. When the film was in the dark, the black and white appeared more green and blue.

But don’t stay away from this film, because it’s black and white — it’s the feel good movie of the year and feels modern for all its old-fashioned glory.