"Singin' in the Rain" vs. "The Artist"

This coming Sunday, the Motion Picture Academy Awards for 2011 will be presented, and among the nominated films expected to make a big haul, if not THE big haul (Picture, Actor, Director) is "The Artist." Now, regular readers know that I saw "The Artist" a few weeks back, and that I liked it. I do not think it is the Best Picture of the year. I do think that while it is a good movie, it is being overpraised due to the fact that it is so different (silent, black & white, and foreign). In many ways it is someone saying "Look, how clever we are. We made a silent movie in 2011", and Hollywood, in a bit of self-indulgence, is breaking its arm patting itself on the back over the whole thing.

By a curious bit of coincidence, on Sunday afternoon, viewers of Turner Classic Movies will have the chance to watch an undisputed classic, Stanley Donen's and Gene Kelly's 1952 "Singin' in the Rain." This is a movie that always ranks in the Top Ten or Top Twenty of all-time great movies whenever such lists are complied. If you don't know the movie, it stars Gene Kelly, Donald O'Conner, a 20 year old Debbie Reynolds, and, in an hilarious supporting role, Jean Hagen, and the story is very much the same story as "The Artist" tells.

Kelly and Hagen are two silent movie stars of the highest rank, famous for their starring opposite each other as movie lovers in countless films. Trouble is, talking pictures are about to make their debut, and while Kelly should do OK in talkies, Hagen has a voice that makes fingernails on a blackboard seem soothing. How do they get around this? Where and how does Reynolds fit in? Will Kelly get the girl in the end? (Silly question.) And some all-time classic musical numbers: Kelly, O'Conner, and Reynolds singing "Good Morning", O'Conner singing "Make 'em Laugh", and, of course, Kelly's absolute classic version of "Singin' in the Rain", which Pirates fans get to see and hear on the scoreboard at PNC Park whenever there is a rain delay.

By all means, go and see "The Artist." It's a good movie, but also take time on Sunday afternoon (or program the DVR) and watch "Singin' in the Rain", where a very similar story was told, and told much better sixty years ago. No matter what happens come Sunday night at the Oscars, I believe that "The Artist" will in a very few years time be viewed as a novelty item that struck a lot of peoples' fancy in 2011, and will be relatively forgotten, while people will still be watching and enjoying "Singin' in the Rain" for at least another sixty years.

Movie Review: "The Artist"

We got out to see the much touted and highly acclaimed movie, "The Artist", this afternoon. As you may know, this is a movie made by a French director, Michael Havanavicius and the lead actors are also French, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, it is filmed in black & white, and is a silent movie. At first blush, this seems like it could be a bit of Hollywood pretension, but after reading so many stories and reviews about it, I was predisposed to like the movie, and I was hoping not to be disappointed. I was not.

The movie deals with the era of Hollywood history (yes, it is a movie about movies, and there is nothing more that Hollywood likes) when silent movies were giving way to talking pictures. Some great movie stars of that era couldn't make the transition, and that is what "The Artist" is all about. By the way, an argument could be made that "Singing in the Rain" did the same thing sixty years ago, and did it better. Will people be watching "The Artist" years and years and years from now like people still watch "Singing in the Rain" today? It's an interesting question and would make for an interesting debate.

There is no question that "The Artist" is a very interesting piece of movie making, and the performances of Dujardin and Bejo are both really good. I liked the movie and can see it being a strong contender when the Oscars are doled out next month. I am still holding onto my vote for "The Descendants" and George Clooney, but "The Artist" is certainly a very good movie.

And speaking of the Academy Awards, we rented "The Help" this weekend, and we didn't much care for it. In fact, we got about a half hour into it and shut it down. Something about watching the deplorable treatment of "the help" by the belles of the 1960's South that was not something to which we wanted to subject ourselves. I know that ultimately, it is an uplifting story, and we could see that the acting was quite good. Maybe we just weren't in the right frame of mind at the time. Maybe we try it at a later date.