My Favorite Movie of 2011

The Artist

To be honest, ever since college, I have not liked movies as much as I used to. I used to think of movies as this ultimate medium of expression and that could not be matched. It is easy to look at a list of great films, and perhaps agree that movies are the best, but the more I studied them and watched more with a scholars eye, movies as an expression of art began to fall apart for me. Movies have become just the expression of the “passive onlooker”; which is to say that the audience serves as this kind of awkward silent protagonist in a world that most of the time does not acknowledge them. Directors like Hitchcock and Kurosawa took advantage of this “passiveness,” but most films I see now a days make so many assumptions about the audience that most modern movies are more about emotional manipulation than about trying to genuinely move somebody via beauty or art. These sentiments I had made watching movies something I do with friends and family rather than something I might do by myself. That is, until I saw The Artist.

The Artist is a modern film, but it chooses to forego most of the in movie’s diegetic sound and goes for a “silent movie” style. The movie has an orchestrated soundtrack, but all the noises and voice one would take for granted in a normal modern movie have been taken out. There are even title cards for dialog when characters are talking. While a lot of the cinematography and camera work is clearly modern, the movie stays pretty loyal to movies made before the 1930’s. Already, it is an interesting experiment about how someone might make a silent movie with almost 100 years of progress in the medium. What makes it more than an experiment and how it became my favorite movie of the year is the success of telling a fun, compelling tale using practically anachronistic way of making films. Without all the over-stimuli of most modern movies, The Artist is able to shine through its heart and charm. Granted, “heart and charm” may be words that are so cliché that they might not mean much anymore, but perhaps that what makes The Artist so great: before the cynicism and clichés of the current way of making movies, a movie had to be legitimately good in order to get any attention. Maybe my own cynicism for cinema had me appreciate the struggle of George Valentin and trying to hold onto the world of silent movies that he knew. If there is anything The Artist taught me it is that sometimes you have to be silent in order for anyone to listen to you, for a wise man is silent while a fool can be heard for miles.

Runner Up:

Red State

I feel like this movie being able to get to audiences without the help of big studios (especially in the light of this whole PIPA/SOPA debacle) is already enough to get onto anybody's “Best of” list, but what really makes it shine is how it takes what any other writer/director would just make into a black and white thriller about the evils of Christian cults and floods it with grays. Kevin Smith brings both his unique takes on dialog and cinematography and finally cements himself as both a great writer and director in my eyes. It is a must for anyone who really loves movies, if only to see the potential of true independent films.

Both these movies also reminded me how much I love John Goodman. Such a good actor.