Movies Features

ANALYSIS: Oscar favourites The Artist and Hugo show cinema's contrast

By Andy Goldberg Jan 25, 2012, 10:39 GMT

US actress Jennifer Lawrence (L) and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak (R) announce the nominations during the 84th Academy Awards nominations announcement press conference. EPA/PAUL BUCK

Los Angeles - Two very different movies about the early days of cinema gelled with Oscar voters Tuesday as Hugo and The Artist emerged as the top nominees for the most coveted prize in the US film world.

Both movies contain elements of homage to the origins of cinema. Hugo tells the story of a Paris urchin who lives in a train station, and who helps a cinematic pioneer rediscover his passion for moving pictures.

The Artist portrays a love affair between two actors: a huge silent movie star who is made destitute when talkies arrive, which in turn catapults a young actress he befriended to the top of the movie hierarchy.

But, aside from their common ode to the bygone days of cinema, the two leading Oscar nominees could hardly be more different.

Hugo was directed by perennial Oscar favourite Martin Scorsese, a giant of US cinema who won an Oscar for The Departed in 2007 and whose films, like Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, are frequently included in lists of the greatest movies of all time.

Michael Hazanavicius, director of The Artist, is, by contrast, a complete Hollywood outsider. A 44-year-old former director of French TV commercials, Hazanavicius' only two previous films were French spy romps.

The Oscar contenders also contrast starkly in technique. Scorsese's Hugo has been acclaimed as the best use to date of cutting-edge 3D technology, a lavish feast for the eyes that bombards the viewer with spectacular arrangements of colour, movement and action.

The Artist, on the other hand, harks back to the silent movie era in which it is set. Filmed entirely in black and white and with barely a word spoken, the film is made using many of the same techniques employed in the 1920s, which Hazavanicius spent years researching.

He made the movie on a shoestring budget of 13.5 million euros (17.5 million dollars), just a tenth of the 170 million dollars Scorsese spent on making Hugo.

There's also a huge difference in their box office sales. While Hugo has earned some 55 million dollars so far in the US, The Artist has taken in less than 10 million dollars at that country's box offices.

The stark contrasts between the two Oscar favourites were not the only surprises served up by the Oscar academy on Tuesday morning.

The Descendants, a family drama starring George Clooney, had been tipped to compete with The Artist as Oscar frontrunner, but ended up earning just five nominations, one less than Brad Pitt's baseball tale Moneyball, and also one less than Steven Spielberg's War Horse, which had not been seen as a top ranking Oscar contender.

Another movie which failed to fulfil expectations was the bawdy chick flick Bridesmaids, which was shut out of the major categories, but did receive nominations for screenplay and supporting actress.

Oscar voters also paid homage to auteur Terence Malick's The Tree of Life. The winner of the Cannes Film Festival by the reclusive American director was only nominated three times, but all were in marquee categories: best picture, best director and best cinematography.

The inclusion of the September 11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close among the nine best picture nominees was also seen as a surprise.