A pleasant surprise

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2012)

What a pleasant surprise The Artist is. I was expecting something pretentious but what I got was a charming and entertaining romantic comedy. The fact that it is shot in black and white is silent (it has a very good accompanying original orchestral score with a slice of Bernard Hermann thrown in for good measure) and framed in a non wide screen academy format only adds to the movie. The cast are universally excellent especially the two leads Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Miller excelling in their roles with James Cromwell and John Goodman giving great performances. The direction is spot on and really does portray the style of movies form the late 20's early 30's and using authentic locations really helps. I watched the movie in an almost full cinema on a very large screen. The audience laughed and gasped throughout the screening and there was a spontaneous round of applause at the end. I would recommend seeing the movie in a cinema with an audience to get the full impact. Highly recommended.