The Artist - a review

5 Stars - Absolutely Magnificent.

Perhaps review is the wrong word, unbelievable gushing of fan boy love might be more appropriate...

The Silent Movie is a sadly forgotten style within modern cinema and has been ever since the Jazz Singer brought talking pictures to life back in 1927. However they have always appealed to me personally, for their wonderful use of stylised gestures and creativeness of effects not often seen by todays CGI heavy industry. So when I saw the trailer for The Artist I got very excited indeed.

The film, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, tells the story of George Valentin, a silent film star, whose career plumets at the dawn of the talkies, he falls into poverty and depression, whilst Peppy Miller, a beautiful young actress becomes a rising star, due in no small part to Valentin giving her a way into the industry.

The film tells this story wonderfully, tugging at your heart strings throughout, but with a good amount of comedy thrown in for what is often well needed relief. And has basically become my favourite film ever, a spot I never thought I would be able to give to any film ever.

The performances are wonderful, Jean Dujardin is captivating as George Valentin, giving a performance with many levels and subtle emotions, which is no doubt difficult to achieve in a silent film what with the lack of dialogue often calling for more 'over the top' performances. He has won a Golden Globe and SAG award for his performance and I strongly hope he will go on to win the BAFTA and Oscar as well.

Berenice Bejo is lovely as Peppy Miller, giving her a real energy and a charm that makes you want to see her succeed and makes it hard to see her go through difficult scenes.

All the supporting cast are excellent, from John Goodman as Al Zimmer, the comical head of the film studio, to James Cromwell as Clifton, Valentin's faithful and caring Valet. And of course the unforgetable Uggie (Winner of the Palm Dog Award) as The Dog

Talking about the artist would not be complete without giving mention to the magnificent score, by Ludovic Bource. In a silent film the score has to tell the story, there is no other way it can work. Bource's score is truly magnificent capturing the mood of every scene perfectly and never feeling out of place or over done, I liked it so much I bought the CD.

To sum up, The Artist is the film that made me feel better walking out of the cinema than I ever have for any other film. Even if you don't fall madly in love with it like I did, I still think you'll leave it with a smile on your face.