Was "The Artist" (2011) really Oscar worthy for Best Picture and Best Director?

I hated Tree of Life. The Help was fun but not a top class movie. Hugo was a children's movie, and not one that had a bonus layer for adults. War Horse was better as a play. Close was horrible. I liked Midnight in Paris, but Woody Allen is well…

Of the remaining, I’d say The Descendents and Moneyball stuck with me most.

Loved The Artist but have never seen again, not do I have the desire to.

[quote] Other nominees for Best Picture: The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse

That does sound like an abysmal year.

Also, I can't believe all those films were over a decade ago!

probably indeed a weak year, most films on the list rarely mentioned anywhere

I feel that way about a lot of movies nowadays.

I hate the superhero-everything movie era. When I heard about "Lady Bird," I was excited and thought "that sounds like my kind of movie." The reviews were *so* glowing. I watched it. I liked it. It was fine. But contender for best picture? I agree with that because of the context of its competitors these days—but in the 90s? No way.

Movies and music both have become so watered down and lacking in depth and personality these days, while TV can be as good as some great movies from decades ago when movies were great.

I liked The Artist, for what is was. I also liked Midnight In Paris and Moneyball and didn’t care for the rest.

Was there a particular reason you didn’t list the Oscar win for Best Actor, OP?

Wasn’t The Artist one of those ones where H Weinstein basically bought the Oscar with lavish, aggressive campaigning?

R8 I have never seen the movie but I can picture the Oscar campaign ads that ran in all the trades, so I'd say yes.

I liked The Descendants very much. Multi-layered character development. Kind of an adult tragedy. It’s the only one of those I ought on Blu-Ray. It holds up well on multiple viewings.

Corey Stoll as Hemingway is brilliant in Midnight in Paris. And Kathy Bates is fun as Gertrude Stein. But the rest of the film is as colorless as Owen Wilson.

I remember “The Artist “ made a huge impression at the time. You’d think nobody’d ever seen a silent film before. But there are other silents, many others, that are better. (See Murnau’s “The Last Laugh,” for one, that has a similar story.)

r9 the movie is free on YouTube.

I loved The Artist.

It was one of the few films I saw multiple times in the theater.

Great love scene:

There is way too much expectation foisted on Best Picture nominees. The notion that every film nominated or winning has to be the next Lawrence of Arabia or On the Waterfront is so ridiculous. The reality is, in any given year, there probably ten films worth seeing. Four won’t be nominated and only two will be remembered a decade later and the chances that one of those two is the Best Picture winner is probably less than 33%.

It is a small miracle that something like the Artist was even made and that it works because of the passionate attention to detail put in by the creators is a huge miracle. Don’t condemn it for being “sleight”. That is one of it’s charms in a business full of self-important “geniuses” trying to save the world.

It used to be abnormal to think the world needed saving every day and mental illness to think you alone or even a small crew could do the job. There really is very little different philosophically between the Magats, the SJWs, and comic book movie fans.

R7 My post is my reservation on whether it's worth best picture or director, not listing others means I don't have a problem with the best actor win or the costume design.

I thought The Artist was one of the most unsatisfying and tiresome movies if the year - and I say that as someone who loves a lot of silent films, none of which even remotely resembles The Artist. (I laughed when someone above compared the movie to The Last Laugh.)

If I were to rate the nominees, it would be (in this order) Midnight in Paris (also my absolutely favorite film that year), Tree of Life, Hugo and The Help.

I tried watching War Horse when it first came on cable, and I couldn't get past the first half hour.

Same with Moneyball.

I don't think I've seen the other two nominees.

[quote]"The Artist" seems like a gimmick to me, shot in B/W, silent film with title cards

Yeah, it's an homage to silent films and the era. Not a gimmick.

[quote]I remember “The Artist “ made a huge impression at the time. You’d think nobody’d ever seen a silent film before. But there are other silents, many others, that are better. (See Murnau’s “The Last Laugh,” for one, that has a similar story.)

Excuse me, but I hope you can see there difference between a silent film made in the silent film era, and The Artist? "You’d think nobody’d ever seen a silent film before." I'm sorry - what does this mean? The filmmakers painstakingly recreated the style of dress, architecture, and machinery, of the era, as well as the lighting and cinematography.

*see the difference

I didn’t see it but remember a cute dog from ads.

God, how I hated "The Artist." So precious.

I wanted to walk out but thought my friend was enjoying it.

When it ended, he said, "I wish you had said something. I only stayed because I thought you wanted to."

I think I speak for everyone when I say that the lead actor (and Oscar winner) Jean Dujardin looks smashing in the film. Dujardin is one of the most handsome men in movies. Period.

Hollywood loves love letters to itself.

Spotlight, Argo, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, the Shape of Water, Nomadland all pretty forgettable recent BP winners. Anyone ever discus these movies?

I loved the Artist. I don't know if it earned every inch of the hype but scene for scene it's really well done. And yes, per R21, Hollywood does like a tribute to itself.

R81 sadly the dog died in 2015

I thought it was a lovely film. The leads were charming. Jean Dujardin is very sexy.

However, it was a weak year but it stood out because of the premise and the film's style.

There really hasn't been a great year in film since the '90s.

I worked with Uggie twice, and he was a magical little dog. He could skateboard too, bank corners with his custom made skateboard.

I forgot that movie even existed until I saw this thread. It's as forgettable as most Best Picture winners are (deserved or not). They all have the same routine. Once it gets nominated, it finally receives hype, praise, and attention. And then, about a few weeks after it wins, it starts to get ignored. Best Picture winners always fade into oblivion when Summer Blockbuster season kicks in. From then on, a clip of it will show up at montages played in future ceremonies. That's much the only way America is reminded of the films that won Best Picture.

Its gimmick was original (sort of) and it charmed when it first came out. I haven't watched it since so I don't know how much of that charm it retains.

I think Tree of Life was exceptional and should have won.

The Descendants is the best film out of that list. Hands down.

[quote]Best Picture winners always fade into oblivion when Summer Blockbuster season kicks in. From then on, a clip of it will show up at montages played in future ceremonies. That's much the only way America is reminded of the films that won Best Picture.

R27 What, like Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, The Sound Of Music, Titanic, Schindler's List, Silence Of The Lambs, Gandhi, The Godfather, The French Connection, Midnight Cowboy, The Lost Weekend, Ben-Hur, Rebecca, The Best Years Of Our Lives...?

I've accepted that Hollywood loves films about Hollywood. Like, it makes sense that they'd love schlock like The Artist. Not sure why people are surprised.

If I were a filmmaker who wanted to win Oscars, I'd just make films about Old Hollywood constantly.

R32 It's shocking that Mank didn't win, in that regard.

Too lazy to look, did "Hail, Caesar" win anything?

Jean Dujardin won Best Actor in nearly all major film awards except one, César Awards in France - his home country, he lost to some other actor. Interestingly, his costar Bérénice Bejo was nominated but didn't win Oscar or BAFTA etc but she won Best Actress at César.

I saw the movie and I don’t remember it.

I remember thinking how pretentious George Clooney was casting Jean Dujardin in one of his movies right after the Oscar win. It was like the only notable movie he did after.

Clooney is such a kiss ass to the Academy.

Jean Dujardin is hot as fuck.

R36 Jean Dujardin is a very accomplished actor in France even before "The Artist", but he doesn't speak English, there is very little chance to cast him a leading man, even supporting roles would be challenging for him. I don't think he made much effort to jump to Hollywood, his film credits after Oscar win are mostly still French.

I liked it. Of the noms I liked tree of life & midnight in paris too i would never watch any of them again.

I caught a little bit of it on TV the other the day. It felt like a relic, not because it was silent and in BW, but because it was a big deal back before everything truly went off the rails. ‘The Artist’ feels like a lifetime ago already.

I also love “The Descendants “ very much. For a while it was on heavy rotation on HBO. It just gets better every time. I have completely forgotten “The Artist”

I could never get more than 25 minutes into it. And I think I tried about 3x.

As somebody who loves silent films, it was exciting for me to get to see one in the theatre. I've seen many classic films in theatres but for whatever reason they never seem to book silents.

I saw it and really enjoyed it as a well made film and something unique at the time. Did it deserve Best Picture? I can't say, as I haven't watched most of the other films nominated that year. But it didn't feel to me like a ridiculous, out of left field choice.

The Artist wining Best Picture was the beginning of the end for the Academy awards, from then on all the movies that won except maybe The Green Book became inaccessible to the mass audience and the box office.