I must say that I absolutely ADORED this film. I hadn't seen such a tender and touching movie in a long time. The story was pretty simple but the performances and the musical score were enchanting. After a while I didn't even notice (or care) that there wasn't any spoken dialogue. I was amazed that the actors could communicate so much emotion with their expressions and also how much the music added to the emotional impact of those expressions.
Berenice Bejo, who plays Peppy Miller, stole my little heart. She is simply adorable and her performance was magical. And Jean Dujardin gave the performance of a lifetime as George Valentine; he looks like he's from a different time, it's nutzo! I never cry full on tears whilst in the theatre (I will admit that I bawl my eyes out in the privacy of my own home) but I got pretty misty many times during this film. It was just...beautiful--and I don't use that word lightly. After the movie ended I felt lovely and happy all over but when I was walking out of the theatre I listened in to other people's reactions to the film...
They all hated it! Everyone kept saying, "I kept waiting and waiting for the sound to come back." and I wanted to shake them all and shout in their faces, "It was a SILENT film! Why would you be waiting for fucking sound?!" And what made me even more irate was the fact that all of these people were fucking OLD! They probably were alive when all movies were silent and now they can't even sit through one GD silent film? Philistines!
Anyway, Netflix recently put "The Artist" on their instant streaming so I told my parents they should watch it. They were watching some awful movie at the time and I got tired of waiting so I went to watch it in my room. It was just as good the second time but eventually my parents started watching it too. They were about 15 minutes behind me (I could hear the music because my dad is nearly deaf and has to watch tv extremely loud) and I couldn't believe it but my own parents TALKED THROUGH THE WHOLE MOVIE! How can you watch and appreciate a silent movie (or any movie for that matter) when you talk through the whole thing? I was appalled. My own parents were too ADD to watch this beautiful film. Come to think of it, my parents and I never like any of the same films. It's gotten to the point where they go out of their way to NOT watch a movie simply because I recommended it but then somebody my dad works with will suggest the same movie and THEY'LL WATCH IT!! Grrrrrr...
Well, in conclusion, I loved this movie and am amazed that such a film could be made today. It 100% deserved all of the awards and accolades it received and if you don't agree, then turn it off and go back to watching "The Hangover 2".
I deem "The Artist" the very elusive FIVE PUGS!
