Wonderful valentine to the silent film era; One of the year's best and a must see for cinemaniacs!

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2012)

THE ARTIST (2011) **** Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle, James Cromwell, Malcolm McDowell, Uggie The Dog. Wonderful valentine to the silent film era from French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius about Hollywood star George Valentin (Dujardin, channeling Douglas Fairbanks, John Barrymore and Errol Flynn) facing a career pitfall with the advent of sound and encountering invigorating rising starlet Peppy Miller (the beguiling Bejo, Hazanavicius' real-life wife and dead-ringer for Natalie Wood) who may be his saving grace. Captured with brilliant production design by Laurence Bennett and gorgeously shot by Guillaume Schiffman in scintillating black and white evoking the silent era to perfection. Glamorous and hear-felt with genuine pathos and peppered with enough knowing laughs (thanks largely to Uggie The Dog as Valentin's constant companion) the film is a masterpiece about movie-making and the magic of the movies. One of the year's best and a must see for cinemaniacs!