Movie Review: "The Artist"

When this won the Oscar a few years ago, I remember being curious as to the fact that it's a silent movie. A silent movie? When was the last time one of those was made? I've never seen one. And now it's been sitting on the shelf at the library for quite some time, and my thought has been, a silent movie? Why would I want to watch one of those? Especially when I wouldn't be getting credit for watching some old old Hollywood?
But I finally gave in.

It was good. The plot was basic, nothing special - sound comes to movies, silent movie star's career is thus over, up-and-coming starlet gets in at just the right time. I'm guessing it won for Best Picture mostly because it was something different and because Hollywood likes to pay tribute to itself. The Oscars it won for Best Score and Best Costume Design were earned, though. The score was very silent movie-y and of course who wouldn't have fun doing costumes for the 20's/30's. The costume designer said, too, that it was an extra (but fun) challenge because he had no idea how to do costumes for black and white. They were beautiful, though.
One problem I had with the movie was that sometimes it felt 20's/30's-y and sometimes it did not. It felt a bit incongruent. Part of that could be that Jean Dujardin was so perfect (Oscar), whereas Bérénice Bejo was not (no Oscar). There were certain shots where maybe she could be from the 20's, but mostly she looked like a modern actress in 20's clothing. Dujardin on the other hand looked the part (the costume designer said he had fun doing his costumes because he wore the period clothing so well), eyebrowed the part (this is a silent movie after all - eyebrow movements are important), and acted it in such a way that he felt right for the time period. I think this contrast between the two leads is a big part of why I say it's a good movie, not a really good movie.
As for the silence, it was fine. It makes you realize again how much of communication is non-verbal. It was interesting. Though I must admit, I did take a short break about 2/3 of the way through, as that much silence was getting to me a bit, mostly just because it's not what we're used to.

Oh, and of course one more thing to mention. I was watching it thinking, "Good grief, it's amazing how much Jean Dujardin looks like an old-time actor. And somehow, even though he's not Clark Gable, there's just something about him. Maybe it's because that's just such a romantic time-period for movies. He's not necessarily woo-woo, but I can totally understand those 20's girls swooning over him. There's just something about him."
Um...yeah. 38.