New Silent Movies - "The Artist" and "Blancanieves"

To my biggest surprise, I just saw - and truly enjoyed - two new silent movies made recently, not by coincidence both in Europe.

As a lifelong admirer of silent movies, I was initially very suspicious when I heard about French movie "The Artist" and even awards that showered it could not convince me this is not just a gimmick.
Until I saw the movie.
It is a love letter to old silent movies made with great sensitivity, joy and passion - kind of "Singin' in the Rain" story about silent stars falling sideways while talkies took over, with two main stars positively glowing on the screen. I honestly don't remember when was the last time I saw somebody lighting the whole screen with a smile, the way Jean Dujardin and lovely Bérénice Bejo do here. Pure magic. I guess everybody is feeling surprised how much they enjoyed it even though it has no special effects, science fiction space shuttles or anything acrobatic - its light-hearted, funny, romantic and wonderfully entertaining experiment.

Strangely enough, Spanish "Blancanieves" was written in 2003 but it had to wait for finances until it was finally done in 2012, when of course "The Artist" had already stole the thunder and overshadowed this beauty, which in my opinion is even better. As much as I loved "The Artist", this Spanish re-telling of Brother Grimm fairy tale is far superior, darker and yes, more original. It turns "Snowhite" completely upside down, placing it in contemporary Sevilla with bullfights, matadors and flamenco dancers. The cinematography is truly   spectacular and although everything is black-and-white, it has a very powerful imagery - one simply can't stop watching it. We know the story, yet it is twisted and turned around so playfully that viewer never know what to expect since this Spanish Snowhite has her own life that only vaguely reminds us on its origins. And the music score is just fantastic.

I must also add that by some technical mistake I had to read "subtitles" in both movies in their original languages, French and Spanish - and I was just fine perfectly understanding everything since silent movies live in their own universe where language is unimportant.