FILM REVIEW: The Artist

The Artist is not like any other recent movie you have ever seen. The Other Half and I saw it at the Arclight Cinemas Pasadena in the week between Christmas and New Years. At Arclight they always have the usher come in before the film and make a little speech about the film and the theater. At this screening the usher mentioned that the film was in an "old school" format of 4:3 in addition to being in black and white and nearly silent (no spoken dialogue). He wanted to warn the audiences not to think that there were technical difficulties with the sound or the projection: the unusual look and lack of dialogue were artistic choices by the writer-director Michel Hazanavicius.

The movie cleverly begins by showing a movie within the movie which is a silent movie, letting the audience become acclimated to the black and white format and the lack of sound. Eventually the camera pans back and shows that the movie within a movie is occurring at a gala premiere and it is precisely at the moment in which the audience has to buy into the central conceit of the film: the action outside the screen is also in black and white and silent! It is a very fun idea, which even gets more "meta" when one realizes that The Artist is a silent black-and-white film about a silent black-and-white film star! The film star in question (who also starred in the movie within a movie) is named George Valentin (played by the debonair Jean Dujardin) and in the beginning is shown to be a wildly popular leading man, a sort of combination of Rudolf Valentino and Errol Flynn.

The main plot involves the change in Hollywood with the advent of "talkie" movies and we are shown the meteoric rise of Peppy Miller (played by the luminous Bérénice Bejo) and corresponding precipitous fall of Dujardin. Miller is introduced to the audience as just another fan who is besotted with Valentin, hoping to get an autograph when through an accident her picture gets put in the paper with Valentin and she is discovered by the head of the studio (played by John Goodman).

One of the highlights of the movie is Valentin's sidekick, a dog named Jack who is a very well-trained Jack Russell Terrier, who appears in almost every scene of the film that Valentin appears in. Another highlight of the film are the beautiful locations around Los Angeles around which the plot takes place, depicting a 1930s Hollywood (then called "Hollywoodland" of course).

Overall, the film is a delightful homage to the storied past of cinema, with filmic shoutouts to some of the highest regarded movies of all time, such as Singin' in the Rain, A Star is Born and even Citizen Kane.

One caveat is that for modern-day audiences used to the high impact look and feel of HDTVs and Blu-Rays,  The Artist is a demanding film to watch, requiring more concentration and attention, but it is worth the effort.

Title:  The Artist.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius.
Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for a disturbing image and a crude gesture.
Release Date: November 25, 2011.
Viewing Date: December 27, 2011.

 Plot: A-.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: B+.

Overall Grade: (3.67/4.0).

BOOK REVIEW: George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons

After a long wait of nearly six years since the publication of A Feast for Crows, the fifth book in George R.R. Martin's award-winning, best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance with Dragons was released in July 2011.

The entire A Song of Ice and Fire series has had a higher profile lately, especially since HBO started airing a mini-series called Game of Thrones based on the first book, A Game of Thrones. Their intention is to shoot each season of the series roughly based on each book in the series. Peter Dinklage won a very important Emmy award (Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series) for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister, one of the fan's favorite characters.

A Dance with Dragons was reviewed by all the major papers of record (Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Time) as well as the usual suspects of media outlets online, generally positively. Among fans, however, the reviews are somewhat mixed, with the feeling that the latest book is closer to A Feast for Crows than A Storm of Swords. To me, that's to be expected because the timeline of events that occurred in A Feast for Crows occupy about half of the book in A Dance with Dragons, happily told from the perspective of the fan's favorite characters. The problem with this is that not much progress was made on the huge, series-spanning plots like: Daenerys' march to Westeros from Essos, John Snow's attempts to maintain the Wall against the invasion of Creatures of the Frozen North, Bran Stark's destiny to actualize his magical talents and whether the Iron Throne will be controlled by someone who actually deserves the power and cherishes the people they rule, just to name a few. (By some counts, there were around  11 central plots covered in just this book).

On extended reflection, I think my overall evaluation of the book is closer to the official reviewer' than the fans'. I've only read A Dance with Dragons once, but I would still rank it as the second best book of the series, behind the impressive A Storm of Swords which is still the best of the bunch with A Dance with Dragons close behind, followed by A Clash of Kings and A Game of Thrones (the less said about A Feast for Crows, the better).

I had the good fortune of only starting to read the series in 2011, so I have not had to experience the half-decade long wait for the next installment in the series. Sadly, now that I have caught up with Martin's production schedule, I will have to comfort myself during the long wait for Book 6 (widely reported to be titled The Winds of Winter) by re-reading the first five books and watching the excellent HBO television adaptations of the earlier books (apparently each season of the series will be an adaptation of the corresponding book). Hopefully the next book will be out before the television series catches up with Martin!

Title: A Dance with Dragons.
Author: George R.R. Martin.
Paperback: 1040 pages.
Publisher: Bantam.
Published: July 12, 2011.

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.917/4.0).


PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A.