Silent movie creates Oscar buzz

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It's hard for a movie fan not to be curious about the buzz surrounding "The Artist."

A silent movie hasn't been nominated for a best-picture Oscar since "The Patriot" in 1928 — the second year Academy Awards were handed out.

The last time a totally black-and-white movie won best picture was "The Apartment" in 1960. "Schindler's List," which had just a dash of color, won in 1993.

Yet "The Artist," a French, almost completely silent movie filmed in black and white, is poised to snag a best-picture nomination when they are announced Jan. 24. And oddsmakers say it's got a serious chance of winning the top award at the Feb. 26 ceremony.

What gives? Why now? Is this the start of a new trend, or a flash in the pan? And what has made "The Artist," which opens Jan. 20 in Omaha, such a hit with audiences and critics alike?

Local film fans and professionals point to a combination of shrewd timing; a simple, heart-tugging story; a nostalgic longing for a simpler past; and the novelty of it all.

"It's clearly a film lover's film," said Omahan Mark Hoeger of Oberon Entertainment, who both teaches film and makes movies. "It is itself about film — about the role film plays in society, about the craft of making a film, about the business of filmmaking. It's all film, all the time."

"The Artist," a tribute to the early days of Hollywood, takes place during the transition from silent film to talkies in the late 1920s. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a charismatic silent-film star, believes he's so popular with fans that he can avoid talkies. He ignores the urging of his cigar-chomping studio boss, Al Zimmer (John Goodman), to work with a voice teacher.

Square-jawed with a pencil mustache and dashing in his trademark white tie and tails, George is on top of the world when he gives young chorus girl Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) her first big break in pictures.

But George's fortunes soon fall, just as vivacious Peppy becomes the captivating new starlet of talkies.

If this all sounds familiar, you're not the first to notice that "The Artist's" plot is a mash-up of "A Star Is Born" and "Singin' in the Rain" — a mix of melodrama, comedy and romance.

The tributes to Hollywood history don't end there. Parts of the mood-shifting score are lifted from Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo." A scene between George and his spoiled wife (Penelope Ann Miller) recalls "Citizen Kane." His devoted chauffeur (James Cromwell) echoes a character in "Sunset Boulevard." His scene-stealing terrier, Uggie, looks a lot like Asta from "The Thin Man."

"It follows so precisely the formula of that rags-to-riches-to-rags story, with redemption at the end," Hoeger said. "It's a Hollywood film in that sense too."

The formula may be old, but it's proved winning. Dujardin won the award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival, while director-screenwriter Michel Hazanavicius was the New York Film Critics Circle pick for best director. Dujardin and Bejo are both nominees for Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards as well.

Rachel Jacobson, director of Omaha's nonprofit art-house movie theater Film Streams, said "The Artist's" appeal lies in its story.

"There's definitely a lot that's very familiar," she said. "But the references to the past aren't necessarily from the silent era. It feels more like Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire."

Jacobson sees a parallel between the upheaval caused by talkies in 1927 and the growing pains movies are now going through in their transition to digital.

"The medium has changed, the process of creating a film has changed," she said. "Finding new technology is exciting, and you hope it brings the medium to a new level. But it's also kind of scary. It has to reinvent itself."

Omaha film historian Bruce Crawford sees another connection between "The Artist" and present-day movies: a simple story that speaks a universal language.

"So many films today are threadbare for story, dialogue or substantive content," Crawford said. "They're easier to take in because they're so basic. The explosion of digital effects is like pantomime. They appeal to an international audience in the same way silent films did, by becoming universal with little or no dialogue."

There's also the echo of the current economic struggle in the leading man's falling on hard times, Hoeger said. That helps the audience connect with George.

Still, he said, he doubts this is the beginning of a trend that will spawn imitators.

"Directors are always trying to find interesting angles," he said. "The return to a nostalgic format has always had a certain appeal, and it can make the story feel fresh and new. It stands out because it's novel compared to what you're used to."

Danny Lee Ladely, director of the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, agreed, calling "The Artist" a bit of a fluke.

"Critics love it for referencing favorite films from over the years," he said. "But the mainstream public are simply not interested in black and white or silent these days. And Oscar voters are like the public. I'm sure it's going to get nominated, but I'll be totally surprised if they give it the Oscar."

For movie audiences used to getting a lot of information through their ears, or being bombarded by colorful images, Hoeger said, "The Artist" can feel more visual — more cinematic. Without words, actors must say more with their faces. And the black and white enhances a nostalgia for Hollywood's heyday in the 1930s.

Jacobson said "The Artist" is a reminder that film is a visual medium.

"The fact that it honors the history of cinema is especially cool, since Film Streams is devoted to celebrating film as an art form. For us 'The Artist' is a dream movie. Part of me hopes that, even if this is someone's first exposure to silent film or even black and white, maybe they'll be more willing to explore movies from the past."

Contact the writer:

402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com

PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Black and White: An Oscar History

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