The Artist PT.2

I think the films Amelie and The Artist do a great job of putting international films back on the international stage. How do these two films deal with realism, institutional critique, and questions of the individual vis a vis community? Amelia dose this by shooting the film on real locations and not having happen in the film that wasn’t unbelievable. Everything that happened in the movie was completely believable to have had happened. A lot of people liked of Amelie. Amelie came out after 9/11 and was one the most popular French movies to have launched in the United States. The Individual vs. Society is one the biggest motivators in the movie. We see throughout the movie multiple times we see Amelia help people in society. For example, we see Amelia help a blind guy across the street and describe the setting to him. Another time we see Amelia help someone in society is when Amelia sets up the clerk with one of the waitress ex-boyfriend. The Artist does this by being historically accurate. For example, we see that when we start seeing people taking in movies is historically accurate. Also we see events from United States history are portrayed correctly. One of those events was the stock market crash that started the great depression. The Artist challenged the institution by doing a throwback type of movie. In 2011, almost all movies in 2011 have full sound, fully colored; while The Artist was a black and white movie and virtually no sound. This was cool to see that movie doesn’t need the normal things we see in movies today and still be a great movie. We see the individual vs society in a different way in the Artist then we saw in Amelia. In The Artist we saw Society kind of turn their backs on George because he wouldn’t do a talking movie. George finally realizes this when he self produces a movie and barely anybody went to the movies primer. The Artist is set in 1920’s Hollywood; while Amelia is set in a French city. The Artist is filmed in a style of old 1920’s Hollywood style; while Amelia is filmed in a more modern style.             

The Artist PT.1

Robert Ebert writes, ” Here is one of the most entertaining films in many a moon, a film that charms because of its story, its performances and because of the sly way it plays with being silent and black and white.” Before I started to watch “The Artist” I thought it was going to be a very boring movie, but I was very surprised on how much I enjoyed the film. I was very surprised on how well the movie kept my interest. I liked how the movie blended in sound to the movie during certain scenes to help create a certain mode. I liked how all of the actors were portrayed during the moves. For example, how George Valentine struggles to move on from silent movies when movies become talkies. He see his wife divorce him and we see his life fall apart to a point where he just wants to end it all. Also, we see Peppy Miller who goes from a fan adoring George to a backup dancer, to a full on star that tries to take care of her friend George. I think George’s dog reminds me of Lassie. The dog is absolute blast to watch and he saves George’s life too.   

Amelie pt3

After reading all of the responses in the second discussion forum about Amelie, I noticed most of the students had similar responses to the questions asked in the forum. Almost everybody talked about the characters that were showed in the end of the movie. Whether it was Amelie and Nimo, the failed writer, the old painter, or Amelie’s father. It was pretty cool to see everybody’s reactions, interpretations, and opinions on what the endings mean. One of my favorite responses was from Mahlon Smoke, because she helped place the writing on the wall to the person. In her response Mahlon wrote, “he sees a quote from his manuscript on the wall, feels joy that he inspired someone with his unpublished book, possibly giving him new hope to try again.”   When I first watched the movie and the ending again for the second discussion forum I couldn’t find a reason for the writing and the reason why the man smiled at in, so because of the forum I learned something. The last thing I forgot to mention in my second forum post, I forgot to write about the granddad. After Amelie returned the box is returned to the granddad, he reconnects to his family and shares the things he used to love with his grandchild. This is a really touching moment.