The Artist begins with a wonderful bit of dialogue, printed on a card in wonderful Hollywood circa 1925 text... "I won't talk! You can't make me talk!" A man is being tortured for information in grand Hollywood style with electrodes sitting on his head and special effects electricity coursing through the air around him.
We're watching a movie in a movie, the star of The Artist is playing an actor and we're watching his film in a grand theater with a great orchestra and conductor and the audience enraptured. We go backstage and see a big sign requesting silence behind the screen during the show. If you wandered in off the street in 2012 and didn't know what to expect in this film you would wonder, where's the color? Where's the audio? Why does that crazy (LOUD!) music keep playing? And the significance of the first line becomes clear, it's one of several very broad puns scattered through this very playful movie. Valentin won't talk for his captors and he won't talk for Hollywood. A chance encounter with an ambitious starlet leads to a professional relationship that turns into a love story between George and Peppy. His faithful terrier is a devastating scene stealer, John Goodman turns out to be a perfect silent film star and you learn that you don't need color, dialogue or sound effects to tell a compelling story, you just need a story. The downfall and resurrection of a great film star is told through the compelling artistry of Hollywood film. This is a feel-good, stand up and cheer film that will send you from the theater in love with this amazing storytelling artistic endeavor called film making. I loved it. I was so happy to see it get its due... Best Film, 2012 Academy Awards
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