Classic film has everlasting appeal : The Halo

February 23, 2012 ? Nathaniel Lance Tucker, Staff Writer ?
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

Two of last year?s most ambitious films, Hugo and The Artist, prove that despite the advancements in modern technology, the classic, heartfelt films of yesteryear are still remembered with everlasting fondness.
Hugo?s story takes place in the early 1930?s after black-and-white silent films had fallen by the wayside to give rise to sound and color films. Through a series of mishaps and new friendships, the titular character, Hugo, who has a great love for movies, revitalizes a former silent filmmaker, Georges M?li?s, who has lost his faith in film.
M?li?s made hundreds upon hundreds of black and white silent films that had a pioneering focus on fantasy and narrative plot. Hugo contains many excerpts from several of M?li?s? silent films, portraying the characters deeply admiring and enjoying the films from an age long gone.
Georges M?li?s has often been cited as the father of many genres of film from fantasy, to science-fiction, to horror. His films have served as timeless inspiration for filmmakers around the world.
Hugo serves as a loving homage to M?li?s? work in pioneering film, and for that reason alone, it deserves its Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
The Artist, which has also been nominated for several Academy Awards categories including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, takes a much more direct approach to honoring the black-and-white silent films of old by being a black-and-white silent film itself.
The Artist?s story revolves around silent film star, George Valentin, who upon attending the premiere of his latest film meets a young reporter, Peppy Miller. Valentin later finds out that Miller is a dancer and demands that she appear in his studio?s next film.
Two years later, Valentin?s studio proposes to cease production of silent films and shift focus to producing sound films. At this, Valentin, who feels sound in film is just a fad of the time, decides to produce and direct his own silent film. Unfortunately, his film flops under competition from a new sound film that stars Peppy Miller.
During the remaining duration of the film, Valentin struggles with finding a balance between holding on to his passion for silent cinema and adapting to the changing times.
The Artist is a film created out of loving nostalgia to honor a past golden age in cinematic history, and it does just that in the most honoring way possible: by directly mirroring those golden-age silent films.
Both Hugo and The Artist are wholly deserving of their Academy Award nominations for serving as reminders of film?s humble and beautiful roots; they show that classic, heartfelt film is, in a word, timeless.

Source: http://www.sdhalo.com/arts-entertainment/2012/02/23/classic-film-has-everlasting-appeal/

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