Will leave you speechless

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2012)

I'm quite confident to say that "The Artist" will be the best film of 2012 and the year hasn't really even started yet. It's quite a shame to see how "The Artist" was only playing on my local cinema (well not local, local that one doesn't have anything worth seeing on it! It's just got one screen and it's usually kiddie films, but it's cheap and they have the odd thing on which can be useful) for just one week, on one of its smaller screens (still bigger than my local, local one!) I can only presume that its been taken off early for "The Darkest Hour 3D" because they thought that a silent black and white film will not do well. Who's going to want to see a black and white film? Never mind it being silent! Obviously a lot more people are going to want to see the upcoming masterpiece "The Darkest Hour 3D" that's clogging up two screens because it's in 3D. Well they're wrong! (If I'm assuming correctly) because "The Artist" sticks one gracious middle finger up at 3D blockbusters and has you asking, "Who the heck needs sound?"! Because it is an absolute masterpiece!
The only other film I've ever felt slightly the same about was last year's "Black Swan" (although I don't think I'd put it up there yet...) But that just shows how "The Artist" really is for everyone, because it is absolutely nothing like "Black Swan" apart from the fact that it ended on the stage. "Black Swan" is an extremely intense character piece that literally blew my mind (don't worry I'm not schizophrenic) whereas "The Artist" is a character piece but presented in such a different way that it blew my mind as well! I knew that when I went to see it that it was going to be good, I just didn't have no idea it would be THAT good! I probably would've gone to see the very next screening but it cost £8.65 or something outrageous like that. Thankfully, "The Artist" is worth every single penny. If you have to pawn your watch to see this film then DO IT!
Why am I getting excited about this film? Well, I've never seen anything like it, quite literally because I've never seen a silent film, just parts of "Nosferatu" and so I wasn't quite sure what to get. Actually "The Artist" has pretty much everything, fabulous acting, beautiful directing and cinematography, engaging story, amazing music that just carries the whole film! The soundtrack is gorgeous and basically does play throughout the whole film, only when their is no music, it's done in perfect timing and is just breathtaking!
"The Artist" also carries so much emotion, it's happy, it's sad, it's angry, it's funny, pretty much every emotion is shed on that screen and it's just an absolute delight to see. I wasn't expecting "The Artist" to be quite so deep either, because I didn't really know much about it, I just knew it was a love story, when actually it is so much more! It's a character piece really on our hero George who places too much faith in silent films, when talkies suddenly appear around the corner. It's also an extremely clever idea to present a film about the silent era as a silent film, because you can actually sympathise with George as it makes you thing "Talkies are crap!" When a film can look this beautiful and be silent and black and white.
"The Artist" is also so amazingly clever! It's like great literature being projected onto a screen. Like "Black Swan" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" it carries so much symbolism and visual metaphors that are just so clever it had me astounded. The film is also so beautifully shot! There are some shots that I thought looked absolutely perfect, like when George sees his shadow on the white screen, and when he sees his reflection wearing a suit, these are absolutely perfect shots that are also executed magnificently. There just seem to be so many great moments throughout the film that are sure to make this film a classic for years to come, it's the definition of "modern masterpiece".
I have to talk about the actors as well, Jean Dujardin is perfectly cast, from the moment we see him he is instantly likable. He has this perfect silent era charm about him and is such a great comic actor and emotionally charged actor. You can feel his pain and happiness where ever is appropriate. Bérénice Bejo also has a great charm about her, she's weirdly beautiful and also a great actress. The dog is also an absolute joy to watch. When he's on screen (I know it's a "he"!) he brings guaranteed laughs, and also tugs on your "aww" strings. The dog is actually an amazing actor and probably should win "Best Supporting Actor" at the Oscars.
In fact "The Artist" should win everything at the Oscars, it should win "Best Picture", "Best Director", "Best Actor", "Best Actress", "Best Screenplay", "Best Music", "Best Sound" (no really their is some great use of sound in their!) But then again I said the same thing about "Black Swan" and that only won the one. "The Artist" is a film for everyone, it's oozing to the brim with sophistication, and if it was a woman it would charm me right into bed! It'll make you laugh and it just maybe might make you cry on a couple of occasions, but one things for sure it will make you full of absolute joy. "The Artist" is perfect, basically perfect, from start to finish.