If you still haven’t seen the Best Picture Oscar-winning The Artist, you don’t have any excuse because it’s now available on DVD. It’s a magical romance that writer-director Michel Hazanavicius gives us through the highly original choice of an almost silent film. Set in Hollywood from 1927 through 1929, it is the story of a silent film star who is left behind by the startlingly immediate transition to talking pictures.
The French actor Jean Dujardin won the Best Actor Oscar as the silent star, a charismatic and ever-playful guy whose career is trapped by the shackles of his own vanity. While on top, he treats an ambitious movie extra (Berenice Bejo) with kindness; she remembers when she becomes a star of the talkies.
Dujardin’s star, whose films resemble those of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., is a joker with a knack for the grand gesture. He also has an adorable Jack Russell terrier that serves as his companion and co-star.
Hazanavicius is so skillful that audiences that have never seen a silent film soon become enraptured by the story and invested in the fates of the characters. It’s a visually and emotionally satisfying film.
John Goodman and James Cromwell are excellent in supporting roles.
(BTW, in real life, Berenice Bejo has two children with Michel Hazanavicius.)
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvifS2QOun4]And, courtesy of photographica in the Movie Gourmet’s LA bureau, here is co-star Uggie the Jack Russell terrier celebrating Uggie Day in Los Angeles.
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