7) The Artist/Argo
Two very recent movies, two consecutive Best Picture winners at the Oscars in fact, offered stories that were based in historical truth in strikingly similar stylistic ways, specifically their representations of their respective settings through the use of visual recreation of the time period. For Argo, Ben Affleck and company achieved a 1970s cinematographic feel, while The Artist employed both black and white photography as well as the bold choice to make it nearly dialogue-free in the spirit of 1920s Hollywood.
Despite the numerous opinions to the contrary, I find both these movies deserving of their high praise, even if their Best Picture wins may not have been the strongest picks for their given years. Nevertheless, Argo offers a slick and entertaining portrayal of a true story in which Hollywood movie producers come to the aid of stranded Americans in Iran, and does so with admirable style and tempo. The Artist, the more ambitious and charming of the two, is also more closely tied to movie history, depicting the crisis of a silent film star watching as the sound era arrives and seems to be passing him by. Both quality films, but AMPAS’ awarding Hollywood-centric movies Best Picture two years in a row certainly comes off as a little circle-jerky.
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