I’d gone to see The Artist (run-away winner at the Academy Awards yesterday) last month with a big chip on my shoulder. Carol and I usually agree on which movies we choose, but not this time. I have a few rules, and she knows them: No animated films. No movies with subtitles. Okay, so
maybe I didn’t have a rule against silent films — but if I’d ever thought the situation might arise, I certainly would have.
Silent movies. What a stupid idea.
I was busy calculating how many minutes I’d wait before announcing to Carol that I was walking out of The Artist when a funny thing happened. I got totally won over. By the 
absolutely irresistable Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), of course. And by the suave and thoroughly entertaining George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), to be sure. But most of all, by the dazzling, brilliant, adorable, scene-stealing Jack Russell terrier (Uggie) who plays dead, prances on his hind legs, and constantly trots along faithfully at George’s heels, as if he were tethered to his master by an invisible bungee cord.
Uggie had the same mesmerizing effect on my beagle last night that he’d originally had on me. Ricky, of course, had been snoring away on the green couch, as is his wont, for the first three hours of the Oscars — never so much as lifting his head. But in the short sequence when Uggie barked with excitement over his movie’s big win, Ricky bolted upright, suddenly alert and all ears, and then barked right back, urgently, at quite a high volume, and for quite some time. He was clearly letting the Academy know how much he was enjoying the charismatic terrier’s performance.
And so much for the silence.
Of course Ricky would go with a winner, Ugge. My Toby, in an aspirational burst of inter-species support, was rooting for “War Horse.” I told him the Academy generally didn’t support war stories, but you know how little influence I have over him.
God bless Carol. Where does she find the strength to live w you???? You are a case Hank! OK, a really cute and endearing case, but nonetheless….. She is a saint!
Such a sophisticated man, that Ricky. Imagine if he’d been around in the days of Lassie. He would have glued himself to the TV weekly and had long conversations with the girl. And, if he’d watched Rin Tin Tin–OMG–he’d probably be a Navy Seal by now!
No animated and no subtitles?