It’s one of the unfortunate tried-and-true tenets of film marketing that the more you reveal in a trailer, the better you grab audiences to see your film. The Weinstein Co. faces a challenge as far as selling Michel Hazanavicius’ Cannes best-actor-winning The Artist to audiences.
The movie is a charmingly accessible Star is Born Hollywood romance set at the same nostalgic turning point as Singing in the Rain: the advent of sound. The film is shot in sparkling black-and-white and it’s silent—except for a surging score and a few key percussive moments.
Here’s our round-up of Cannes reviews; the trailer is below.
Jean Dujardin is winning—and heartbreaking—as George Valentin, a silent star fallen on the skids, alongside Berenice Bejo as the young starlet on her way up, John Goodman as a benevolent studio chief and John Cromwell as Valentin’s loyal chauffeur. The English-language silent dialogue is easy to understand. The pick-ups from famous scores peak with the artful use of “The Love Theme” from Bernard Herrmann’s score from Vertigo. And did I say there’s an adorable dog who saves our hero in more ways than one? They should put this little terrier up for the role of Asta in the new Thin Man. He’s a keeper.
This movie is a soft lob down the middle for the Academy–it will play beautifully for them. But TWC needs to lure moviegoers as well, and thus they are giving way the whole movie.
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