'The Artist' has stolen from other artistic masterpieces!

'The Artist' (2011)

I watched ‘The Artist’ at the Greenwich Picturehouse on Sunday and although it is entertaining enough, I thought that it is another over-rated modern film. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, the critics called it “original” yet it is clear that so many scenes in the film were robbed from better films from the golden age such as ‘Citizen Kane’, ‘The Thin Man’ and countless Chaplin movies. It has become clear to me that modern film critics have no knowledge of Hollywood cinema heritage. ‘The Artist’ is so thinly plotted, I could tell you the whole story in one sentence and not leave out a single thing.

'Vertigo' (1958)

What annoys me most about ‘The Artist’ is that the musician (Ludovic Bource) is up for a Golden Globe for Best Original Music, yet Bernard Herrmann’s original score for Hitchcock’s masterpiece ‘Vertigo’ was used in some of the vital final scenes in the film to enhance the tension. Kim Novak, the lead actress from the 1958 Hitchcock film, is quite right when she said earlier today that the theft of this music to enhance ‘the Artist’ is nothing short of artistic rape.

I wished that this old-styled black and white silent comedy picture ‘The Artist’ would be the refreshing change we wanted so badly in face of the bilge of modern 3-D and SFX-ridden blockbusters but it was not to be. To be frankly honest, I think that this simple-plotted silent film is an insult to the incredible master-works created by legendary film-makers of that era. I love the silent film era but this not the tribute I craved for. For the ultimate homage to the silent era, try watching the 1952 Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly musical masterpiece ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and do not get excited by this cinematic novelty disguised as art.