'The Artist' and the rise of retrovision

Suddenly, brand-new vintage pictures are everywhere. But is cinema's great leap backwards more suited to cult concerns such as 'Grindhouse' and 'Darkplace'?

Future historians sifting through the cinematic detritus of the last 100 years might find themselves wondering whether some dozy assistant had mislabelled the reels for the early 21st century. After an orderly progression from silent cinema, through the talkies, Technicolor, right up to the digital era, it suddenly starts to get messy. What's this 1950s melodrama doing in the 2002 pile? Why were a bunch of 1970s horror movies apparently made in the noughties? And which idiot thought that this silent movie belonged to 2011?

Movies set in the past are nothing new, but in recent years we've seen a boom in films made in the style of their particular era. It's a new level of vintage: not just getting the period details right onscreen, but getting the whole mode of presentation correct, too … ideally so you can't tell the difference. Let's call it retrovision. Retrovision is more than just "doing" retro; it's being retro, it's seeing retro. You could think of it as a special effect like 3D, only cheaper and more convincing. Retrovision isn't a new invention; how could it be? But at a time when history is continually repeating itself with every new costume drama, mythological epic or reminiscence of British royalty, retrovision could represent a great cinematic leap, er, backwards.

Somehow, retrovision fits perfectly with "cult" viewing material. Perhaps it's down to film-makers trying to reconnect with something "real", in these cases the golden age of video nasties and their own adolescent horror freakery. But it could also be down to the fact that viewers too are pop culture-literate enough to know what's going on, in the same way that pop fans can easily detect, say, the influence of mid-80s Simple Minds in the Horrors' last album, or the Lynchian retro twang of Chris Isaak in Lana Del Rey.

But the film that's taking retrovision overground and upmarket right now is The Artist, the new French-made "silent movie". For those readers stubbornly living in the 21st century, The Artist is supreme 1920s retrovision: a black-and-white Hollywood melodrama, made in the old-fashioned 1.33:1 screen ratio, with intertitles, a continuous orchestral score, and (almost) no dialogue. The film wasn't made with hand-cranked cameras (in fact they shot it in colour), but the lenses, the lighting, the camera moves – all the technical details – were carefully calibrated to get the look just right. "I watched and re-watched many silent films to try to assimilate the rules of the form," says director Michel Hazanavicius. "What people usually do when they make a period movie is recreate what they are shooting, but they aren't recreating the way they're shooting."

Edited from: The Guardian: 7/1/12

See also: BBC News Feature