The Artist: It is good to see an old favorite actor bounce back in a plumb comeback role...

Uggie with Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller

Uggie with Jean Dujardin as George Valentin

I went to see The Artist yesterday and the stranger sitting next to me belched, chewed, and farted through the whole movie (and that is saying a lot given I am a cow).  And in a silent movie the noise of a person belching, chewing, and farting next to you becomes even more annoying.  I was at the movie early and this "person" and her slightly less offensive partner came right up and sat next to me (they were aging baby boomer hippies).  I should have moved.  I have not had that much sensory input at the movies since John Water's Polyester and Smell-O-Vision.  What I suffer through sometimes so I can report to you what is happening in the movies!


Despite that unpleasant experience at the theater, The Artist was a very entertaining movie (which trusts me says a lot about that film that I got over the distractions).  Set in the period when the silent movies went to "talkies" it chronicles a silent film star who seeks meaning and redemption...good to see "Eddie" from Fraiser get such a plumb comeback role!  Actually "Eddy," was played by Moose, and is sadly no long with us.  The dog in The Artist is Uggie (who is retiring now).  Uggie steals every scene he is in.  Both Moose and Uggie were rejected house pets who were rescued (Jack Russell terriers can be terrors if they are not properly trained and challenged).  What made these dogs nightmare house pets made them stars in Hollywood (because they have the energy and drive to work hard and were not intimidated by the sets, lights and trapping of film).  The rest of the cast do okay too.  Actually both Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin do a wonderful job in this film.


NY Times review.  The Artist won Golden Globes for best film, best actor (for Dujardin) and best screen play.  It has been nominated for Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Actor for Dujardin, Best Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design and Original Score.   The movie did sample (with permission) part of the score from Vertigo which has upset Kim Novak.   


Financially, Oscar bumps, however, are not what they used to be.  And sadly, Uggie is not being invited to the Academy Awards due to tension between him and Director/Writer Michel Hazanavicius.   Here is the blooper reel.  I am sure this is a film that will do well in the rental market (And given my lovely experience at the theater, I can't imagine why rentals you can enjoy in the privacy of your home would be thriving...)