A middle-class craze seems to have taken over Britain. It has hit with such force and so universally that I haven't seen anything like it since the medieval cap-doffing that was that Royal Wedding. What am I talking about? You ask: people going to see the movie 'The Artist' - something which I did on Saturday night (I had been out on Friday and was tired and hungover). For those of you not in the know, or not in the middle-classes, the Artists is that homage to silent movies which is the talk of the town.
The crowd was a full-house, of mainly middle-aged or elderly people who whispered loudly throughout the movie (I heard at least five people say 'what a SWEET little dog' during or after the movie) and they broke into spontaneous applause at the end. It was pleasantly unusual: going to see a movie in Britain typically means having to listen to people on phones, people crunching their way through nachos (why nachos? They stink and are noisy to eat!) and listen to the smacking lips of crusty teenagers making out and talking. After paying an inordinate amount for that privilege, they wonder why home cinema is on the rise. for the Artist though, which I viewed at the wonderful Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, it was, as it always is, more pleasant: I very much enjoyed watching a movie which people saw it as an event, rather than a way to stay warm for a couple of hours.
The movie itself is pretty good, and very clever. You've probably seen the trailer, it's a silent movie starring some French people - the two leads are the stars of 'OSS 117:Cairo, Nest of Spies' - a 'racist satire' which I watched and enjoyed with a very attractive French girl). These two are terrific, as is the dog, who I have heard is being proposed for an oscar. Speaking of large, charming animals, John Goodman is in it too. Visual and audible jokes worked well and were meshed cleverly into the plot. The movie is charming, funny and affective, and the two leads are great.
The female lead is dish of the day material, and the guy is a handsome, cheesy smile that has made him Europe's sweetheart. However, I thought that it went on for about ten minutes too long (the scene of the lead's decline could have been trimmed pretty easily), although the girl I saw the movie with said that this merely added to his pathos. It's also possible that my expectations were too high, the constant trailers and bus adverts mean that it's received almost universal acclaim.
Still, I had a great time, should I give it a rating? Naa... wasn't really a review!
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