The Artist (2011) ****

This Review Has Been Made "With Pleasure"

            January 7th is my birthday! That means that I always see a movie with my family in the theater, which is a rare occasion for us. Last year, we saw one of my favorite films, The King's Speech. Now, I've got another film to add on that important list.
                 You mostly heard of The Artist because it was made in black and white ,96% silent, and it was made in 2011, the year where sound and color dominates everything else. Yet, it stands out from all of the other movies because it has a compelling story, great acting, great directing, and a lot of montages to old film, which is one of my favorite passions. After all, in order to learn about today, you have reflect on the past.
          It's set in 1927 Hollywood, where action idol George Valentine (Jean Dujardin) is the talk of the town. Then, he bumps into an up and coming star, Peppy (Berenice Bejo), whom he treats kindly. However, sound hits theaters, and George's career is ruined after he makes a bomb. Ironically, Peppy's career begins to really rise as he falls. Yet, she still remembers him after everyone else forgets.
          During this masterpiece, I remember cheering for the characters, because they were played pitch perfectly. Oh wait, this is a silent movie, so pitch is out of the question. Let's just say that all of the acting in here is perfect. Jean's Canne Festival award winning role makes you really realize how comic and sad life can be in all types of business, even show business. Early in one scene, after being kissed by Peppy, his wife seems to question him about the girl. ( Yes, he's married.) In response to this, George does a fun little comic act with his dog, Uggie, which makes his wife even more angrier that she stomps off. He looks at her departure dreamily, and then turns to his dog to finish the act. This shows that George was trying to put a questionable situation into a comic situation, which made his wife upset. After he does this, he asks his chauffeur to get some pearls for her. This also shows that he wants to make up for what he did to her. Tragically, this late act may have been one of the reasons for his downfall, whom Jean is able to play with such realness and sophistication, that you care for him.
          Berenice's role is also perfect as a woman who also shows the same material as her male counterpart. For example, while rising to fame, she goes to see George's new silent film, Tears Of Love. Since her new film is a talkie and even more popular, the film is a disaster. After the bankrupt George goes home, she visits him with her boyfriend. She tells him that she loved his movie, yet her boyfriend arrives, exclaiming that he's honored to meet George, because his father loved his works. Peppy is embarrassed by this, who decides to go home. Berenice is able to play a rising star who has such emotional feelings for the man who helped her, that you want to cry along with her.
         At the same time, her chemistry with George is terrific that you feel like that they really do have feelings with each other. Spoiler Alert: In one scene, George convinces the studio boss to let Peppy into the movie, and later in the movie, Peppy convinces that same boss to let George be in her movie. This shows that they care for each other and wants to work with each other.
           The rest of the movie is also superb as the actors. Uggie ,who's always perfect in everything, always steals the show as George's comical/ cute/ heroic dog.  John Goodman,  James Cromwell, and Penelope Ann Miller act very realistically in the movie that you fell like you would see them in a classic film. By the way, this movie plays like an old movie. This is not only an entertaining glimpse of Hollywood, but its music, set design, actors, actresses, costumes, and everything else seems to be honoring other great films, such as Vertigo, Sunset Blvd., The Mark Of Zorro, and Top Hat.
        Congratulations for making such a brilliant film with no flaws ( in my opinion), that has made my first essential grade, an A. However, the only complaint I do have is that after the movie was over, I was the only one in the audience who clapped at the end, and it was packed! It seems so sad that no one clapped for it, yet I think that they were soaking its brilliance in, thus honoring a truly wonderful movie.