To recap really quickly, the Future Classic Movies (FCM) Blogathon involves predicting films that will still be drawing audiences on TV, or a chip in our brains, or whatever form of communication exists, 30 or 40 years from now. The vast majority of the posts involve films made during or after 2000; these will be as old then as the ones we watch on TCM now.
My FCM pick is The Artist (2011). Regular readers of this blog know that I adore this film. It is a little miracle — a silent film premiering in the 21st century. It was made by people who really love movies and stocked their film with tons of homages, tributes and shoutouts to the classics. It has romance, humor, suspense and melancholy. The acting in it is superb. It was beautifully written, art-directed, and shot. There is something about it that makes me cry every time I see it. (I’ve actually plunked money down to see this three times. Once I was actually on vacation.) It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and it won five: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Score and Best Actor. But none of these reasons are why I chose this film to endure into the middle of this unpredictable 21st century and beyond.
Every day our lives get a little more complicated and a little more technological. As recently as 2006, the vast majority people had only a vague idea of what Facebook was. No one had heard the term “social media.” Phones were decidedly dumb; they made calls, and that was about it, at least in the US, where SMS hadn’t yet caught on. Now billions of people are using social media every day. Approximately 20,000 tweets go out every 10 seconds. You can watch a movie, video-chat with someone on the other side of the world, or run a business, all from a smartphone. And the pace of new technology only seems to accelerate rapidly. Economically, the upheaval of 2008 seems to have stabilized somewhat but lots of people lost their jobs and homes, and technology is ending some jobs and creating others. Everything in life is changing so quickly that the term “radical transformation” comes to mind, although nothing is happening quite that fast. I love all the technology, but sometimes even I feel a little overwhelmed, a little bit blindsided…a little bit like George Valentin. He would understand if he was here, because this is what The Artist is at least in part about: coping with change. (It’s about love, loyalty, friendship, the creative process, paying it forward, and really great shoes as well. But I digress.)
The world the characters inhabit is completely shaken with the advent of sound, and they each provide an example of a different coping strategy, from stubborn disregard (George) to grudging acceptance and pragmatism (Al Zimmer, the director played by John Goodman) to leveraging new opportunities that open up and helping others to reconcile themselves with a new reality (Peppy). We’ll all have to adapt, and since we’ll be adapting well into the foreseeable future, this film is always going to be relatable and relevant. There’s a few people out there who didn’t like this film. To those people I say, get used to it…The Artist isn’t going anywhere, and neither are the rest of these picks, all films that I believe will persevere:
Children of Men — It Rains… You Get Wet
Gladiator, Hugo, Midnight in Paris — FlixChatter
Batman Begins — The Filmic Perspective
Crash, Gladiator — The Focused Filmographer
The Hunger Games — Classic Movie Man
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — Reveal Something More
Jane Eyre (2011) — T. K. Guthat.com
Bringing Up Baby, Casablanca, Goodfellas — Jack Deth
from The Cinementals:
Mulholland Drive — Will
Kill Bill, Vol. 1 & 2 — Jill
O Brother Where Art Thou — Carley
Bride & Prejudice — Jennifer
There Will Be Blood — Drew
The Toy Story trilogy — Michael
Brick — Chris
Update: Two more great FCM choices are in:
Sideways — Dan from Top 10 Films
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the very first blogathon I’ve ever run. I hope you had as much fun writing these as I did reading them. To paraphrase a title…there will be more 🙂
Paula's Cinema Club 
I would defnitely put Gladiator in that group.
Wonderful idea, and wonderful choice. The Artist was one of those movies I knew I wanted to go see in the theater again right away. Your write-up is completely spot on! btw I came over for a visit via It Rains… and look forward to my next visit. It’s funny, this will be my second discovery of a blog via a post about Children of Men.
Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind words! Re: Children of Men…that is odd but very cool. Great minds, I guess 🙂
Hi Paula, I just stumbled upon your blog due to this blogathon.
I really like your idea, and even your choice The Artist – though I personally didn’t love the movie as much as others did. To me it was too much like Singin’ in the Rain, a personal favourite of mine. But yes, it’s a lovely film, and I do think it has the potential to become a classic.
Anyway, I’m off to read all the other posts 🙂
Yay! Thanks Mette. I know you’ll enjoy the other posts. There are a lot of similarities between The Artist and Singing in the Rain, I agree. I featured it pretty heavily in my “homages, tributes and shoutouts” post. But I may have missed some…I’d love for you to take a look at it and give me your thoughts if you get a chance https://paulascinemaclub.com/artist/ 🙂
Wahoo!! Congrats on your first blogathon, Paula, you did a great job! Thanks for inviting me to take part. Great pick on The Artist, I’m sure it’ll still be great to see that decades later on the big screen! 😀
You’re welcome and thanks Ruth! I hope big screens are still around…I’m afraid we are moving toward something like 3D TV glasses where everything will further fracture into the tiniest markets possible…one person! and that will be a terrible loss. Hopefully there will be enough of us blogger around at that time to try and stop it 😉
Hi, Paula. When I read this blogathon on Ruth’s I was totally thinking about The Artist! I don’t have any other movie in mind (yet maybe). Nice blogathon and pick!
Great minds! I really really like it. Someone said it’s a “gateway drug” for silent movies as well 😉 Thanks Andina for stopping by.
Hi, Paula and company:
Great choice with ‘The Artist’!
It’s nice to see well thought out and executed B&W make a comeback. Even more so within the silent arena.
Thanks Jack! It’s amazing to me that it got made, let alone the fact that it was so successful and won all these awards 🙂
Congratulations, Paula. That’s quite a line-up for your first ever blogathon. As Ruth and others have said, ‘The Artist’ is an excellent selection for this concept. Here’s hoping that those gatherings of all sorts of different people and generations, crowded into some darkened movie hall where magic comes alive on the big screen, never fades away (no matter how far into the future). Thank you for this and the invitation you kindly extended my way.
You’re welcome & thanks Michael, you’re very kind 🙂 That’s a great vision for the future 🙂
I’m sad to have not heard about this blogathon before it ended! I just saw it linked on twitter, and apparently was living under a rock until today. Regardless, congrats on completing your first blogathon, and I’m excited to read these posts. Would you mind if I belatedly chimed in on this topic on my blog, The Motion Pictures? (I’d credit you and include a link here, of course!)
Absolutely Lindsey, please do! I thought I was actually annoying people with my constant tweets about it, I guess I should have pushed it a little more. Can’t wait to see what you write 🙂
I need to be a part of this! There are a few that need to be heard from (not *one* of you thought of Blues Brothers?)
Scott
Hi Scott! Like I said, I’m a little surprised, I thought I was getting annoying with my constant tweeting about it. The thing is, the movie has to be from 2000 or later. (Jack Deth was going on an earlier version of the concept.) I’d love you to write something for this though, email me and let me know 🙂
Congratulations on your very successful first blogathon, Paula! I had a great time writing about my choice of film and am about to start reading the other choices now. Before I do I have a major confession – I have yet to see THE ARTIST. I know, I am a shameful excuse for a classic film fan.
Aurora
Oh no worries Aurora! I haven’t seen Crash or Children of Men and I’m pretty ashamed of that! As long as you PROMISE to go see The Artist ASAP. I think you will enjoy 😉
As so many have said before me, Congratulations on successfully setting up your first ever Blogathon event. And what an event it’s been! So many great participants. I am honored to be a part!
I love the fact that you highlighted The Artist (and it’s great shoes)! This is a film that I truly loved and reminded me of so many of the classics I grew up watching. I look forward to owning it very very soon. A perfect choice!
T, it was my honor to have you write for FCM. Thanks for your kind words and your great post! The shoes really make the film 😉 I’m joking but not really…they are just one more thing that make it perfect.
I wasn’t sure how to leave a comment on the post for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but I liked the post. I haven’t seen the movie (I generally tend to avoid movies with rape scenes), but I appreciated the fact that the post shares the love for the accurate book-to-movie translation!
I don’t even fully understand all of how tumblr works, I think the only way to comment is to also have a tumblr and “re-blog” it. i appreciate you leaving good feedback for Gabby though 🙂 I generally avoid rape scenes too, but I actually liked the movie.
I don’t like rape scenes either [actually I don’t think anyone does]. This one didn’t bother me as much since I read the book and knew what to expect. The rape in MMMM absolutely terrified me though. Don’t watch that if rape bothers you or The Secret in their Eyes. Just a note.
Thanks for the warnings, I really do appreciate them. I’ve always wondered, if no one likes rape scenes, why do they keep getting written and filmed? In this case, the scene was in the source material but when there isn’t source material…?
Gladiator, Children of Men, There Will Be Blood and Midnight in Paris
Those would be mine on that list. Is there any doubt LOTR will be a future classic as well? Was that too obvious?
I have more in mind, but maybe I’ll just keep them to myself for now. Great Idea!
There’s no doubt in my mind re: LOTR. I haven’t seen Children of Men or There Will Be Blood but I believe all the films here will be classics. Please let me know if you ever write up your ideas, I’d love read what you think.
Loved “The Artist.” It really captured early Hollywood and was a fun history lesson. The direction was steady and sure. Can’t really add anything else because you identified all the great attributes of this wonderful film. Good job!
Aw…thanks Stephen…you are too kind. Thanks so much for coming by & for writing for the blogathon 🙂
Ni hao
Yet to see The Artist. However, there are a few others I beleieve should be in the running:
Dogville – possibly the only time I’ve really liked Nicole Kidman (with the exception of Margot at the Wedding)
City of Life and Death – a Chinese Schindler’s List … the fact it was also shot in BW evokes early Tarkovsky
No Country for Old Men – this shouldn’t date too much … generally I like the Coens, but this is a standout
Inglorius Basterds – (Did I get the spelling right?) … this is my Tarantino entry. I’m not a big, big fan of the man, but it’s a kind of gutsy film given it rewrote WWII and literally spared no prisoners (ie Fassbinder); plus an astute German-born friend of mine said Woltz nailed it. The film will no doubt be one of the links between the cinema of Sergio Leone and that of the 21st century
Che (or whatever it is called) … Soderberg may have won the Oscar(TM) for Traffic, but this two-part bio pic is pretty out there
Dawn of the Dead … Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake. Given we still talk glowingly about Romeo’s earlier works, this zombie fest should also continue to resonate with future audiences. Despite a few holes (like the girl and the dog) it’s intelligent, well paced and ultimately kind of poignant
Interesting choices Mark! Of all of these, I’ve only seen Inglourious Basterds & I wholeheartedly agree, it’s a classic. I think “gutsy” is a great word for it, for all the reasons you mention, also for having the German and French characters speak their respective languages…it always drives me a little nuts now when I see a WWII movie and everyone speaks English (the Nazis usually have British accents…grrrr).
Have you considered writing one of these up for FCM Round 2? None of these are spoken for yet…let me know 🙂
Hi Paula, awesome job putting this blogathon together! I am sorry I missed out on it, and I am just now working my way through everyone’s selections. Great choice with The Artist — definitely a modern classic that will not be forgotten!
Thanks so much Eric…you’re very kind. No worries at all, maybe you could write something FCM Round 2? All the the info is here http://wp.me/p243hv-dV 🙂