The last film from Asghar Farhadi, A Separation, was a powerful drama that swept awards around the world and was one of the most impressive films of 2011. His new film, The Past, is premiering In Competition at Cannes next month, and now we’ve for the first English-subbed trailer. Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) and Ali Mosaffa (The Last Step) feature in the story that follows a different bit of domestic strife, as an Iranian man (Mossaffa) deals with the fallout of divorcing his French wife (Bejo) in order to return to Iran.
Like A Separation, this looks like serious stuff, but well-acted and written and directed with an eye for the sort of details that make the story powerful without feeling artificial. Check out the footage below. Read More »
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There is a very good chance that The Artist will soon be crowned Best Picture. If nothing else, you’re going to hear more and more about the silent Cannes fave in the weeks leading up to the Oscars.
We’ve seen a featurette that talked about the creation of the film, which is set in 1927 as silent films are giving way to talkies, and features an actor (Jean Dujardin) who isn’t quite able to keep up with the shift. Now a blooper reel has shown up, proving that the comedy didn’t always come together in the breezy, seemingly effortless manner seen in the final edit. Read More »
Michel Hazanavicius has been best known for his spy comedy OSS 17 series, but that all changed last year when his black and white silent comedy/romance The Artist opened big at Cannes. The movie has become an audience and critical darling, and is one of the big Oscar front-runners, which means it will only get more big promotion and word of mouth interest as the next couple months go on.
But Hazanavicius is starting to think about his next project, and it looks like he’s going to use his Artist clout to make a film that might be tough going otherwise. He’s going to do a contemporary take on Fred Zinneman’s 1948 Oscar-winner The Search, about a mother’s attempt to reunite with her son after World War II. Read More »
Many film goers are going to be forced to tackle their cinema phobias this award season as Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist is beginning to pick up steam. The black and white, silent film about a silent movie star (Jean Dujardin) whose livelihood is threatened by an up and coming sound star (Bérénice Bejo) is absolutely glorious and not only are critics eating it up, awards are beginning to shower in. That means the average movie goer, who would rarely pay to see a black and white or silent movie, will probably have to bite the bullet just to see something different and wonderful.
The Weinstein Company has released an awesome behind the scenes video about The Artist which gets into a bit of the history, a bit of the preparation and shows scenes from the movie in color, which is oddly exciting. Check it out below. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2011 by Angie Han
Silent films died in the late ’20s with the advent of “talkies,” but it seems they’ve now been gone for so long they feel new again. One of the major stories out of this year’s Cannes was the unexpected popularity of The Artist, a silent film by OSS 117 director Michel Hazanavicius. Set in 1920s Hollywood, the tale revolves around a movie star named George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) at the height of his career who falls for aspiring starlet Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) at the start of hers. John Goodman, Missi Pyle, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Ann Miller, and James Cromwell also star.
I realize that the concept is pretty unusual in this day and age, and may therefore sound off-putting to some. But all the reviews I’ve seen so far indicate that The Artist is a lively crowd-pleaser that makes fantastic use of an old-fashioned medium. I was utterly charmed by the recently released trailer, and I feel the same way about the six clips that have just been unveiled. Watch them after the jump.
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The first film to generate real ‘best picture’ buzz at this year’s Cannes Film Festival was The Artist, a lively silent film depicting late ’20s Hollywood. It is directed by Michel Hazanavicius, aka the guy that made the comic OSS 117 films. The film seems like an unlikely pairing of man and material, but a look at the footage shows just how much care went into making this period tale about the transition from silent to sound films.
The cast includes OSS 117 star and Cannes Best Actor winner Jean Dujardin, as well as John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller and Missi Pyle.
The Weinstein Company will release The Artist on November 23, and the film is likely to be one of the Best Picture Oscar contenders you’ll be hearing about at least until the next Oscar nominations are announced. Take a look at the trailer below, and see why The Artist has so many film enthusiasts wrapped around its little finger. Read More »
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