Dujardian isn't quite as annoying as Begnini, but remember that was only the SAG's. The Oscar's are yet to come, so expect a string of Onions and a beret for that one. Watching both videos back they bring to mind numerous "troubled comedians" leaving the Big Brother house, caught up in their own comeback delusions. Desperate for the indifferent crowd to love him them once more.
The Weinstein lead publicity is continuously playing the underdog card, whereas in fact it's now the favorite for Best Picture and Best Actor at The Oscars. This year, the likes of Clooney and Pitt have put in subtle, intelligent performances in far smarter films, and have been made to look like the stuffed shirts in the category. Meanwhile, a man who strikes a funny pose on the red carpet is lapping up the praise. It almost makes me yearn for Sean Penn. You can just imagine the execs sitting round a glass table, nursing coke comedowns as Harvey Weinstein worries about "all that fuckin' French shit they all talk in?" and then his Havard Business graduate intern pipes up quietly "Harvey, they don't say anything in this one". And there it is, this year's Oscar bait, not only a tale of the triumph of will against adversity (I assume) but they've also managed to shoehorn some Golden Age revisionism, a gimmicky premise and even a fucking dancing Dog by the looks of things. From what I see The Artist seems to be celebrating the worst side of silent cinema, not attempting to recall Jean Vigo or Victor Sjostrom, but a by the numbers romantic comedy. It's like if in 70 years time, in whatever post-Avatar 2 idea of cinema remains, somebody decided to make a nostalgic film based on Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past. It's backwards art aimed firmly at the middlebrow, the cinematic equivalent of those dreadful people that go to forties themed tea dances in Brockley. What the people behind The Artist don't seem to realise is that silent films were great in spite of their lack of dialogue, not because of it. It was only the one-dimensional actors who complained when sound came, not the visionaries of the medium.If you do want a tribute to the era, check out La Antena or Singin' In The Rain, two films which pay tribute to the era without looking like someone's applied the "old movie" filter on a cheap video editing program. If you are determined to see a silent movie, you'd be better advised to go check out L'Atalante at the BFI this month.
