Artist

Year: 2011

Grade: B

Country: France

Director: Hazanavicius

Review

i’ve always wanted hollywood to revisit silent and noir films, but it never seems to happen. sure, they do it in their own way with fargo or l.a. confidential or something, but they never fully embrace the style of yore. luckily, we have the french who love early hollywood. sometimes it creates crappy, overrated wannabes like godard, but occasionally you get a solid film like rififi or the artist. there’s nothing amazing about this film, but it revisits the style in a loving and charming way. film geeks love movies about movies so this one should get a strong showing at the academy awards. someone has probably written about the interesting relationship between the french and the americans, i’d like to read it. they bailed us out in the revolutionary war, they gave us the statue of liberty, we bailed them out of world wars one and two, they labeled our greatest film genre (film noir), etc. this film adds another page to the book. and while it’s interesting in that way and as a piece of film history, it doesn’t strike me as a particularly great film. it’s solid. it’s fun. it’s a nice throw back. but i didn’t see greatness in it.

Watched in theater