A pitch perfect Hollywoodland love letter, The Artist takes modern day movies and takes them back about 80 years tossing us into the world of silent film. Following a slightly similar plot as Singin' In The Rain we follow George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) through the evolution of film from silent to "talkies."
George Valentin is a silent movie star in no small sense of the word. People would flock to the theater to watch him on the screen. Enter Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), a young dancer, poised for a big break. As the movies start to shift to all sound pictures George worries that he will become obsolete.
The acting, expectedly, is incredible! The only way a silent film could be pulled off was if the acting was stellar and in this case it most certainly was. We can actually identify more with the characters in this movie than in traditional comedies because we don't hear them. They have to be much more expressive than just use their voice to act. Jean Dujardin brings life to George in a way only silent movie stars were capable of. And Bérénice Bejo's Peppy is the perfect counterpart to Dujardin. We can feel the chemistry between them ebb and flow as the movie moves along.
Even John Goodman and James Cromwell, as Al Zimmer and the driver/butler Clifton respectively, were great. Giving their characters personality. The people in the movie were great, but an honorable mention has to go to the dog (named Uggie offscreen). This dog brought a lot of humor and heart to the movie. This dog deserves something other than just treats on set!
While I do think the acting was fantastic I see it as almost a cheap ploy to get the actors award nominations and probably wins. Comparing the acting from a silent film to a sound film is like apples to oranges in my mind. One needs much more expression than the other and one often uses the actor's voice to get the point across. On one hand the actors in the sound films who are nominated alongside Jean Dujardin should be very proud that their performances are being equated to his, but on the other hand I don't think anyone comes close to the acting chops he brought to this movie. Look for him to pick up awards left and right this awards season.
The screenplay was entertaining, paced perfectly, and just a joy to follow. Even with the limited similarities to Singin' in the Rain, which was really only the idea of a silent film star making a transition to films with sound. The directing was outstanding as well! Though this could be due to the director being married to Bejo and having worked with Dujardin many times before.
Overall this and Drive so far are my favorite films of this award season and both deserving of every nomination and win they receive. No doubt they will both see great success in the coming weeks.
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