Viewed in
2011
Formats
Movie theater
Premise
A silent film about a silent film star's fall from grace.
Loved
Silent film premise.
Liked
Performances.
Disliked
Story.
Thoughts
Sadly, this was a classic case of the premise being better on paper than on screen.
The premise and spirit of doing a silent movie about silent movies was brilliant. I enjoyed the fun acting by the cast. And I especially dug the play on sound and sound editing.
For me, I didn't find the story to be interesting, so the novelty of watching a modernized silent movie wore off about halfway in. Also, there was this wonderful moment when sound breaks through the "fourth wall", and I thought the film would venture into Pleasantville, only to be disappointed by its retreat back to status quo.
I really wanted The Artist to succeed because the hook was so interesting and cool, but the old dogma of "story is everything" still applies to movies new and old.
