* Those of you who disagree - who feel the insertion of Bernard Herrmann's
5-minute "Love Theme from Vertigo" into 2011's "The Artist" - is a
mild-to-moderate sacrilege - are NOT wrong. Many people feel the same way. I
did not. I looked at the film as an homage, akin to many films that have taken
snippets of melodies or scenes from other films as a nod to their classic
status and/or to parody them. When I saw the breakfast table scene from
"Citizen Kane" and then the Astaire-Rogers style tap-dance sequence - I knew
"The Artist" was a light-weight mash-up of the most familiar tropes of "old
Hollywood" movies.
* I still feel that the insertion of Herrmann's score is controversial ONLY to
older film buffs like us - because we're so emotionally connected to all things
Hitchcock and Herrmann. But I also see everyone's point in this way: what
director Hazanavicius did - is akin to putting Max Steiner's opening theme to
"Gone With The Wind" into "The Artist" with a straight face. That melody is so
well known that it would indeed "rip me out of a picture." But I don't think
"Vertigo" is as familiar to contemporary audiences as "Gone With The Wind."
* I remember when "Avatar" came out, I scoffed to a friend who has kids - that
James Cameron had just ripped off the plot of "Dances With Wolves" and a few
other films. She slammed me to the ground, saying the movie's popularity
underscores the irrelevance of snobby opinions from old fogies like me. She
said contemporary audiences who made "Avatar" a hit - did not see nor get the
reference points to a 20-year-old picture like "Dances With Wolves" - and thus
should be allowed to enjoy them as being fresh, despite their obvious lineage
to films that came before. "The Artist" is not a great film but it's good
enough that I didn't find Herrmann's score offensive.
* Finally, three weeks ago, Bernard Herrmann's widow Norma gave a short
interview to BBC Radio about the controversy surrounding her husband's music in
"The Artist." If you go to the link below, do not read the accompanying story,
just listen to the interview. Herrmann's window is royally pissed off. She
says as rights holder of that five-minute snippet from "Vertigo" - that she was
never contacted by the
makers of "The Artist" to get her permission to use it. She feels
trampled upon and gives the impression that her late husband's music was
meant for specific films - and that they should never be used elsewhere. Then
a surprise occurs. The BBC interviewer invites Norma Herrmann to a screening
of "The Artist." She reluctantly agrees to go. Whether or not you agree with
Norma Herrmann, her post-viewing reaction is revealing, though unlikely to
change your mind.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16681460
-d.
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:45:17 -0500
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
To: [email protected]
I finally saw The Artist last week. I knew
about the Vertigo quote and thought that Herrmann's music suited the scene to
which it had been applied, but I still find the use questionable. One of my
friends who saw the film before I did, told me that the Vertigo quote
pulled him completely out of the film. I can see his point - the score to
Vertigo is iconic if every a films score can be referred to as
such.
On the film itself, I did thoroughly enjoy it, but
don't really see it as best of the year. I thought Hugo was a terrific
film, and of the two "silent era" echoes currently at the multiplexes, much
more
worthy of the praise that has been heaped on The Artist, enjoyable as it
is.
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:22:54 +0000
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
To: [email protected]
“But I thought it enhanced the picture “
Of course! I think it would enhance any picture it was applied to and
that’s why I really don’t care for it being inserted in to what amounts as a
massive gimmick, which “The Artist” is. In many ways it’s like watching a
vacuum
cleaner shuttle along the glorious past of Hollywood.
I’m not so sure that the majority of people who go to see “The Artist” will
not be able to reference the music to “Vertigo” even if they have not seen
Hitchcock’s seminal film there have been enough clips on T.V which
inadvertently
lodge in people's memory banks, after all it is a very infectious piece of
music. The only thing that seems reliable is, do people actually care? I think
they should when you have such marvellous piece of moving art it should be
protected: they might as well give Damien Hearst the key to the vault.
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:25:55 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
To: [email protected]
* From what I've read, director Michel Hazanavicius always intended to use
Herrmann's score from "Vertigo," presuming he could obtain licensing rights for
it. (He did.) But I don't want to paint a rosy picture about this because
indeed, there are people steaming mad at the music's appearance in "The
Artist." The angriest of them all is none other than actress Kim Novak
herself, who has spent the last 30 years protecting what she considers her
greatest legacy on film; e.g., a film and a musical score that's all about her
character and James Stewart's longing for her.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/not-everyone-loves-the-artist-kim-novak-feels-violated-by-use-of-vertigo-score/
* Watching "The Artist" a second time, the whole thing still strikes me as a
charming black-and-white love letter to American cinema, covering the end of
the silent era - to the beginning of the Astaire-Rogers' dance pairings during
the early 1930s. If you can get past the plotting devices that are
oh-so-familiar - it's a treat. It's been a long time since a novelty film with
a predictable ending that's unashamedly pulled straight out of old Hollywood
clichés - has become an awards favorite. The downside is "The Artist" has been
ignored by most audiences. The only people I know who've seen it are crazy
film buffs. With no big stars or high concept ideas or spectacular action
sequences, it's been as big a flop in the U.S. as Spielberg's "The Adventures
of Tintin" (another picture I thought was dynamite). An Oscar for Best Picture
in two weeks for "The Artist" will confirm mainstream audiences' worst fears
about an industry that gets behind films that none of their neighbors have
heard of or cares about.
-d.
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:52:07 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
To: [email protected]
I haven't seen The Artist yet, but will take a bet that it was not the
director's original intention to use the Herrmann, but that he fell in love
with his temp track and then wouldn't replace it with scored music. The most
famous example of this, of course, is Kubrick scrapping poor Alex North's
perfectly serviceable score for 2001 in favour of the rather better known tunes
he already had on LP....
From: David Kusumoto <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 4:09
Subject: [MOPO] OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
Note: The links below have been tested and are safe.
* I went to see "The Artist" a second time to confirm my initial positive
feelings about it. If you've seen "Vertigo" (1958) - then you already know its
score by
master composer Bernard Herrmann is a classic. It's so effective at
bringing out feelings of tragedy - or inexplicable longing for something
unattainable
- that the musical passage below was brought back for "The Artist" - and is
heard in the film in its entirety:
http://bit.ly/waRJoP
* Some film buffs found the Herrmann music inappropriate in "The Artist." But
I thought it enhanced the picture despite being applied to a story that has an
old-fashioned ending. And I bet most audiences today cannot reference the
music back to "Vertigo."
* And for those who can't get enough of Herrmann -- here's the chilling theme
that runs over the opening credits of "Vertigo." (The theme below is NOT heard
in "The Artist").
http://bit.ly/xovThM
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:18:33 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: RECOMMENDED - "THE ARTIST"
To: [email protected]
* You're right, Freeman. "The
Artist" has a gimmick - and that gimmick is being the first commercially
released silent film in the modern era since Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie"
(1976). Because of this gimmick, the "story," such as it is, is
constrained by what silent pictures can bring to an audience without
intelligent dialogue, voice overs or symbolic imagery. Conversely, "The
Tree of Life" is cosmic art - and not surprisingly, very divisive to
audiences in the same way Kubrick's "2001" is - a film that geeks like
us love - but feel compelled to constantly defend. You were there for
the "2001" premiere and you told us that story of how it was received at
one VIP preview - vs. at another preview held the next day. "2001" did
not win Best Picture, but it is a classic.
*
"The Tree of Life" is Terrence Malick's greatest film. But I get blank
looks from people when I talk about it. Quoting another reviewer who
loved "The Tree of Life" as much as I did (in the context of disparaging
the "end of the world" theme of Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia") - "The
Tree of Life says every moment of existence is shot through with glory.
Melancholia says life is miserable, so who cares if the world ends?"
Malick reaches for the stars and some audiences get it and some don't.
This doesn't mean (nor am I suggesting), that those who don't are
mentally challenged fools.
*
In the end, "The Artist" is indeed a croissant that makes no pretense
of trying to be an inward-directed, soul-searching treatise for the
serious mind, nor could it be capable of such - given the format upon
which it sits. I confess that although I loved "The Tree of Life,"
enough to see it twice, (the second time on DVD with subtitles, which
decoded many mysteries I missed the first time around) - when it comes
to my time and my dollars, I still lean toward films that don't feel
like work. I appreciate pondering the unponderable, but I like being
surprised and walking out happy much better because I'm a depressive nut
by nature.
*
It's like that scene in Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986).
Like Terrence Malick, Woody is obsessed with the "what is the point of
life?" question. His character tries out a bunch of religions which
only make him feel worse. But his revelation that hand-wringing over
"life's" questions is futile - and that "living isn't all a drag" -
comes not during a cosmic moment, but when he walks in during a
screening of "Duck Soup" with the Marx Bros. He's laughing and enjoying
himself over a film that's a 1933 light-weight classic. "The Artist"
is light-weight in content, and I don't think it will be a classic. But
it's an ingenious and clever work for film buffs. It accomplished for
me what "Hugo" did not, and in far less time. I think what I'm saying
(in too many damned words) - is because "The Artist" is a derivative
mash-up of silent film clichés, and because "The Tree of Life" is
derivative of "2001" (with far fewer paying admissions) - we'll probably
be dead before the term "classic" can be bestowed on the either
credibly. I still run into people who go blank when I talk about "The
Shawshank Redemption." (BTW, I agree w/you about that horrid film,
"CRASH." That was the Academy's cowardly way of "copping-out" for not
picking the favored "Brokeback Mountain" as the Best Picture of 2005,
even though the film I liked most that year was "Capote.") -d.
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: [MOPO] OT: RECOMMENDED - "THE ARTIST"
From: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:29:36 -0800
CC: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Freeman's review of THE ARTIST in a couple of sentences.
Remember your first plain
croissant? Different in shape, color, flakey, delicious while eating.
But then when it was over it was like, ehhh is that all there is? No
meat, no other tastes but just buttered dough, and you couldn't help
thinking, couldn't the baker have tried a little harder?
THE ARTIST = a croissant
If you want a full banquet, with astonishing sensations, thoughtful preparation
and a feast for the eyes, ears and head.
THE TREE OF LIFE
And when THE ARTIST does win Best Picture, which is likely, just watch. In five
years it will be relegated to that "WTF were they thinking?" bone pile. Just
like THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, ROCKY and worst of all CRASH.
my two cents BUT always great to hear from David Kusomoto on this here board.
(EDIT: The dog was GREAT though, far more appealing than the female lead.)
-----Original Message-----
On Jan 26, 2012, at 6:40 PM, David Kusumoto wrote:
Based on a rave review received privately from a fellow MoPo member, we
rushed out to see "The Artist." Impressions (rather than an essay):
* Magnificent. A "cute" story told with dazzling flair in around 90 minutes..
* Lives up to and sometimes exceeds all of its critical hype.
* Best directed film of 2011. (Michel Hazanavicius).
* You would NOT know this was a French film unless you were told FIRST.
* The two French leads, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo (the director's true
life wife), deserve their nominations.
* Other actors are English or American, e.g., James Cromwell, Penelope Ann
Miller, John Goodman, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle.
* Dazzling 21st century tools replicate old film clichés, e.g., multiple
exposures, dissolves, twirling newspapers, etc.;
* Aspect ratio is the original square frame used during the silent era.
* Silent film ironically has the best adapted score of the year, heard in
BOOMING monaural SOUND.
* Deceptively simple story is actually charmingly intricate; a superb
Oscar-nominated screenplay.
* The Jack Russell Terrier steals every scene.
* The film was shot entirely in Los Angeles.
* Some sequences are NOT ENTIRELY silent.
* "Put me over the top" (1 of 2): Bernard Herrmann's orchestral love theme from
Hitchcock's "Vertigo" heard in its ENTIRETY.
* "Put me over the top" (2 of 2): An Astaire-Rogers-style tap dance scene with
full rich sound.
* Superior pacing and emotion over "Hugo."
* Writer-director Hazanavicius is only 44.
* Superb ending.
* If it doesn't win Best Picture, I'll be very disappointed.
* Not sure if people under 30 will like it but I don't care. (They won't get
the "Vertigo" music either).
-d.
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