From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin- Mugging For The Camera- “The Artist”-A Film Review

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for the Academy Award –winning film The Artist.

DVD Review

The Artist, starring Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, Warner Brothers, 2011

Hollywood, and the film industry internationally, have not been shy about making pictures about making pictures, or some other aspect of the movie industry. Some have been well-done like Day For Night others rather more self- indulgent like The Last Tycoon rather less so. The idea though of doing a film about the silent movie era by making a silent movie (almost totally) using a tried and true rags to riches theme and having audiences (or at least this reviewer and he was not alone) stay with the plot is a notch above all the other efforts.

Okay, the plot of this thing has been done to death, the old star is born routine, this time with an aging male silent film star “stepping aside,” kicking and screaming (silently of course) for a younger female star who not only can mug for the camera but talk without embarrassing herself, her bosses or the audience. But it is not the plot line that intrigues but the pure artistry that it took to convey a story line back in the day by “mugging for the camera.” I have seen some silent movies and I am sure more than one director or producer from that period would have died just to have the technology to produce such mugging in such crisp and seamless form back in the 1920s. This one is well worth seeing for just that reason.