Silent movie making big noise in Oscars race

LOS ANGELES: “The Artist,” a black-and-white homage to the era of silent movies, has a growing number of film insiders talking in Hollywood, where it is increasingly tipped as a leading Oscars hopeful.


The movie by French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius won best film and best director this week by the New York Film Critics Circle, lending weight to its hopes for the Academy Awards.


On the same day it secured a best picture nomination for the Independent Spirit Awards, another key pointer to who will vie for a golden statuette at the climax of Hollywood’s just-started awards season, in February.


Distributed by The Weinberg Company — a veteran Oscar-backer which produced last year’s Best Film “The King’s Speech” — it tells the story of silent film star George Valentin whose career is torpedoed by the arrival of the “talkies.”


As his fortunes plummet, a young dancer and actress who initially idolizes him — Peppy Miller, who catches his eye, and heart — is on her way up to Hollywood stardom in the new movies-with-sound era.


Without spoiling the plot, the climax brings the pair back together in a dramatic and touching finale.The terrier, Valentin’s constant companion throughout the film’s emotional roller-coaster ride, already scooped an unofficial award, the Palm Dog, in Cannes.


Film website Movieline this week launched a “Consider Uggie” campaign for the pooch to win more gongs.


“That he and his trainers have yet to receive so much as an honorary nod beyond the Palm Dog prize praising the year’s most noteworthy Cannes-ine (ahem) performance is an oversight worth correcting,” it wrote.


The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will announce Oscar nominees on January 24, while the winners will be announced at the annual Hollywood awards season-closing extravaganza on February 26.