Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

shoobe01-1 There's no there, there. Dirt simple story you can see coming a mile away, so it's all about how they tell it, and it's told poorly. Pointless scene setting takes forever (that breakfast seems to have taken 1/3rd of the movie), important points skip on by. Acting and most photography is unimpressive. Too many straight on one shots. Too much mugging for the camera, too talkative, when it's a form that requires expression and movement. And too much feels like a gimmick. A silent movie it ain't. The two sound interludes make no sense. I expected it to become a sound picture with the advent of sound in film. That might have been interesting, and a way to show how the world changed overnight.

Parthasarathi Mitra Advancing age and retreating inhibitions have made me liable to cry at the movies and honestly, sometimes a tad more than I would like. But The Artist is one of those 'once in a blue moon' movies that leave you with tears of joy streaming down your cheek. An exquisitely judged, gloriously funny and achingly tender film by the French director Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist is a flawless pearl. The debonair comedy and pastiche are worn with airy lightness; the romance is gentle and yet unexpectedly passionate. There have been 'accusations' that The Artist is an homage, splendid still, to the silent era. But I feel that it is so much more; no, to paraphrase, I believe it is much, much less and calling it an homage is an over-complication and an insult to its simplistic charm. The Artist ,despite all the appearances, is at its heart an utterly beguiling love story and a miracle of entertainment. And this (glorified, if I may say so) paradigm shift that ushered in the talkies serves as a mere subplot, whose only major relevance strikes up from the ramifications on the initially playful romance that is shared by George Valentin and Peppy Miller. However, The Artist, in its own insouciant way, also touches on the debate whether the magic of the celluloid was purer in silence. The leads, both Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo are pitch perfect(if such a term may be associated with silent cinema) in their roles as the embodiments of the two 'clashing' ages in the history of cinema.Valentin, and by extension Dujardin, is every inch the silent-movie icon: his hair slick, his eyebrows meticulous, his moustache finely traced and his jawline a perfect trapezium. Bérénice Bejo also deserves some accolades because she succeeded in looking so "old" from our POV yet so fresh and modern in the film, with the appealing feel-good and optimistic attitude she constantly brings on screen. With her doll-face and youngish smile, she's like a cute little girl enjoying what she does. In a way, Peppy Miller embodies the film's most inspirational element: a positive message about passion and enjoyment. And this indirectly highlights George's source of troubles: being deprived of what he enjoyed the most and suffering from his progressive fading into oblivion. The cinematography of this movie is an art on its own. It is a treat to the eyes. The Artist is itself a silent movie and like its age- old predecessors, it expresses more than a million words could say. Rather than being a celebration of color and sound, it is, in small ways, a eulogy for monochrome and silence.It will, in our age of mindless action, 3D blockbusters and multi- million-dollar budgets, remind film-makers and audiences of the many wonderful qualities cinema has largely lost: elegance, beauty and heartfelt emotion.Drained of colour and sounds, The Artist might just be moving pictures, but they seldom make pictures as moving as this one. The only flaw is that the entire movie felt a bit abrupt, perhaps a characteristic of the silent era itself, I felt that somehow the movie rushed through to the end. Truly a masterpiece.

mjdk2 Where do I begin, well for starters I can say that I am a huge fan of Jean Dujardin. However, as I lack any artistic bones in my DNA the black & white silent style of this movie just did not appeal to me. The silent era as well as that of B&W, is a bygone era and for a good reason, it has been surpassed by better technology. I can certainly appreciate B&W photographs, for the most part, I prefer to shoot them that way. That, however, does not mean I want to watch a movie in this format.Even as a kid I found Mel Brooks' Silent Movie to be somewhat annoying, but in the end, it was entertaining and funny - that said I only watched it once. The Artist was neither - perhaps it is my fault though as I fast forwarded through the majority of the film.

morrison-dylan-fan Despite finding her sparkling in Populaire and magnificent in The Past since first catching a glimpse in the mutant monster pigs Horror flick Proie,I've never seen Bérénice Bejo in her most famous film. Looking at the Christmas listings,I was pleased to spot the BBC airing the Oscar winner,which led to me listening in on the silence.The plot:1927:At the unveiling of his new blockbuster.movie star auteur George Valentin bumps into Peppy Miller,who he poses with for the press.Seeing her face on the front page,Miller pushes forward to become a star in Hollywood,with a studio soon teaming her up with Valentin. Being the icon of Silent cinema, Valentin can hear nothing on the horizon, until a studio head catches Valentin off- guard with the air-raid siren of the "talkies."View on the film:Tap dancing onto the screen,the beautiful Bérénice Bejo gives a magnetic performance as Miller,thanks to Bejo juggling a sweet empathy towards Valentin to stay on the billboard,with a pure,classic Hollywood glamour Bejo shakes out during the stylish movie-within a movie sequences.Becoming the biggest name in cinema with his grand visions, Jean Dujardin gives a wondrous performance as Valentin, brimming with the near-mythical confidence of the Hollywood legends,which Dujardin impressively threads with a fragility of Valentin's star fading. Whilst James Cromwell & John Goodman make snappy appearances,the late, adorable Uggie runs rings round the feet of the mere humans as the scene-stealing dog.Reuniting with his wife Bejo after bringing the OSS series back,writer/director Michel Hazanavicius lovingly presents a sweet tribute to the Silent era,that can also proudly stand as its own creation. Offering tantalising glimpses to the power Valentin reels, Hazanavicius places Miller and Valentin on the dividing lines of cinema,via Valentin seeing his Silent cinema as (popular) art,and Miller's "talkies" as a plaything for the studios. Hearing the tide begin to turn, Hazanavicius brings the change smartly in focus for Valentin,but keeps a light flicking in the darkness to deliver a shimmering,toe-tapping final,as the artist re-discovers his art.