A Sea of Movies

My distaste for The Artist has been publicized. This is from an interview with Guy Maddin, a director of movies, all of which, I’ve never seen.
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AVC: It’s a little odd how you’ve been turned into the go-to commentator on silent film. People keep asking you what you think of The Artist

GM: I still haven’t seen it. I watched about 15 minutes of it that looked charming enough on the airplane just on a neighbor’s screen. That’s how I watch all airplane movies. I refuse to put my own on. I just watch sort of a sea of movies all at once, so they’re all silent. That sort of makes the movies slightly more interesting, but in The Artist’s case, I go, “Wait a minute, it really is silent already.” So I watched it for a while and it seemed likable enough, but it’s unfair to go by a 20-minute excerpt. I didn’t feel like it was anything more than superficial. I shouldn’t say that. I didn’t see it properly. I did not see it properly yet. I will stand by what I’ve always said: I want to hate it, I’m scared I’ll love it. But I haven’t seen it yet.

AVC: It’s a very ingratiating tribute to silent-film acting that has almost nothing do with silent filmmaking.

GM: Plus it won Best Picture, didn’t it?

AVC: Yes.

GM: Just not a good sign, period.

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