Highly Recommended
I just returned from seeing The Artist, the critically acclaimed and widely discussed silent (almost) film from the Weinsteins. If you love movies and movie history, this is your film. It is pure pleasure from start to finish, and I challenge you to name the various movies paid homage to by director Michel Hazanavicius. Jean Dujardin is amazing, whose looks are a combination of David Niven, Gene Kelly and William Powell, and whose personas he can reflect at will. Berenice Bejo is perfect as the aspiring actress who makes good in the talkies, and her expressive eyes and luminescent smile do all the talking. The story of an actor who can't adjust to the advent of talking films and his descent into despair is perfectly told through the only speaking character, the musical score. Ludovic Bource's score (nominated for best musical score) is pitch perfect in delineating the story and offering tribute to the role music plays in telling the stories on film. The love and respect for film making and its history is evident in the attention to detail and the result is one of the most interesting and enjoyable films I have seen in years.
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