A poll to see how much the word has spread at this point in time, pre-awards season.
Ok ok, maybe it will and maybe it won’t win, but it’s sure to be nominated for Best Picture and multiple other awards. The Artist, set in 1927, is said to be a delightful movie about the rise, peak and fall of a silent film star struggling to make the transition to talkies. It’s said to be a lavish love letter to moviemaking and old Hollywood, that’s funny, moving, gorgeous and entertaining. It’s received raves at several film festivals and early screenings. It’s received early Oscar buzz up the ying yang. It stars Jean Dujardin (some might know him from the goofy OSS 117 films, James Bond satires), Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, Malcolm McDowell, James Cromwell, and Penelope Ann Miller. It opens in the US on November 23.
Oh, by the way, it’s French, silent and black and white. Here’s the trailer. Here’s a nice article about the movie and a bit about its Oscar chances.
It’s October. Even though I haven’t seen the film as of this writing, I predict February Oscar nominations of
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best…Supporting…Actress? (not sure about this category)
Editing
Cinematography
Costumes
Maybe Original Screenplay
not sure what else
Win or lose, nominated or not, I’m looking forward to seeing this. I’ve seen 2 of the OSS 117 films (same actor and director) and they’re so fun. I love the look of it too.
I hope it gets nominated for all of them and wins. Seriously.
There was talk a couple of weeks ago that Harvey Weinstein briefly got cold feet over promoting a silent film for the Oscars, but he seems to have gotten over that and is all over it at the London Film Festival. This will be interesting to watch.
Ah, so you saw it then? I should have had that as an option. I know, very interesting to watch. People are going to do multiple double-takes as awards season kicks in, where it will dominate. Huh, all these nominations and awards for a SILENT film? A BLACK & WHITE SILENT film? A BLACK & WHITE FRENCH SILENT film? A BLACK & WHITE FRENCH SILENT film SET IN 1927? I haven’t even seen the film and I’m grinning just thinking about it all.
No, I haven’t seen it…sorry if that was misleading. I participate in a couple of “film fantasy leagues” (like sports, except you draft films), and I drafted it in both of them, so my reasons are selfish…though I’d also like to see if a silent film can really capture the public like it has the critics.
[on a tangent, I drafted “Winter’s Bone” early last year and still recall your thrad on it. that turned out pretty well ]
Fantasy Film Leagues! That sounds like fun. Thanks for remembering my thread about Winter’s Bone. I was pretty proud of that. This one’s odd just because I haven’t seen the film yet, but I have no doubt I’ll love it to death, and I have no doubt the movie will be all over awards season. Like you, I hope it captures the public, but it’s no big deal if it doesn’t. The public often ignores great movies.
I saw the trailer on Friday at the theater. I didn’t put it on my mental “go see” list since the story seemed predictable. It wasn’t actually obvious from the trailer that the movie was silent, that might entice some people to go see it for the novelty.
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