The Artist

The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, took home the top prize at the Academy Awards this year; Best Picture. It has come at an age in cinema where audiences are looking for more.  Their expectation can be defined in four words: bigger, better, louder, more. 

The Artist does bring something different, being the first silent film to win the Oscar for Best Picture since the 1st Academy Awards in 1927 before the invention of talkies in 1929.  Because of its nature, the film needed to bring the emotion in another form.  It achieves this with sound.  Throughout the movie, music specifically composed for tense scenes such as George Valentin was kicked out of his house by his wife to happy, fun scenes such as when Peppy Miller first met Valentin and is posing for the paparazzi are shown.  Ludovic Bource, who composed the music, had to make sure the music matched the emotions of the scenes since words could not be used to do it.  

There were people in this film that could not speak a word of English such as Jean Dujardin.  On the other side is someone who can't speak French, Dujardin's native language.  This is never seen on screen.  It doesn't matter where you're from, what language you speak, how old you are or what kind of movies you generally prefer. By stripping down the story and removing all modern movie techniques, Hazanavicius ended up with a film that relies on pure emotion. It speaks to something in all of us, something basic, human, and instantly relatable.